There's just something about Gaia
by Sakin
Summary: Hello, dearest grandson," Voltaire smirked, oozing cruel sarcasm; "Do come in."
1. Default Chapter

"THERE'S JUST SOMETHING ABOUT GAIA…"

A Beyblade Fic

By Sakin-chan

****

Disclaimer: You people are cruel! Of course I don't own Beyblade. I don't even own a decent ruler.

AN: Revised, rewritten and re-mastered**.**

Chapter 1: 'Familiar Faces'

* * *

[Late evening in the Granger household…]

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"I know! Let's all go to New York!" Max said, hand in the air.

"Nah, already been there." Tyson told him. "Why don't we go somewhere different, like…"

"Hong Kong!"

The four boys looked at Rei. Kenny shook his head.

"Been there, done that."

"I agree; let's go someplace nice." Tyson said.

"Hear, hear!" Max cheered. Kai kept quiet.

"Aw, come on!" Rei wasn't about to give in that easily; last time they went 'someplace nice', it was to a 'We-Love-Tyson' fanclub. Rei shuddered. It had not been a nice experience, especially as the rest of their team had had to fight to keep the forty or so girls from ripping off Tyson's clothes. Besides, Rei figured that it was about time he went for a visit to his family.

"I need to check up on my folks." He looked to Kai for support.

"I think we should go to China this time around. It's not fair on Ray if we keep going to Tyson's fanclubs and Max's old hangouts in New York." Kai said, surprising them all. Rei gave him an appreciative smile, and smirked at the others.

"But don't you want to go anywhere, Kai?" Kenny asked.

Kai thought about his grandfather, and then about his old team-mates. He mentally grimaced.

"No."

Rei looked around at Tyson, Max and Kenny's downcast faces, and at Kai's neutral one, and laughed. He couldn't wait to see his parents, and his little sister. And Gaia. He especially wanted to see her again.

"China it is, then!"

He wondered if she would remember him.

* * *

[Afternoon in Hong Kong, China…]

-----------

"Wanna go someplace to eat?"

"YEAH!!!"

"Alright!"

"But Tyson, you ate five minutes ago!"

"Kenny, you don't understand. I'm a growing boy. I can't live on three measly meals a day!"

"Give him a break, Kenny, if he wants to eat like a pig, then let him."

"Rei!"

"Thanks, buddy – hey! What do you mean, like a pig?!"

The Bladebreakers had arrived in Hong Kong a few days ago. They were heading for their hotel to pack up their stuff and leave for Ray's old hometown – or were supposed to, anyway, but Tyson had stopped at so many restaurants and noodle-carts, that they'd had to cancel their train and book it again for tomorrow morning. The only problem was how on earth they planned to get Tyson to wake up at 6 am.

(Oh, well,) Rei thought, (At least we haven't been kicked out of any restaurants yet.)

"Let's go in here," he suggested; there was something familiar about this dinky little café. Rei navigated between the screens surrounding each table, and pointed to a table with six seats. A waiter in a dark-blue suit passed their table, and Rei stared at him. Then realization hit him like a mallet to the back of his head.

"I remember this place!" he shouted suddenly, causing everybody to jump, and the waiter to scream in terror.

"I used to work here before!"

"OH, MY GO-O-OD!!!" Rei heard a familiar voice screech above him. He looked up, and flinched. Tyson and Max saw the expression of total horror on Rei's face, and glanced at each other, then looked at the cause of this reaction.

It was a perfectly normal-looking, hot (albeit loud) girl of their age, with nice, long brown hair tied up in a bun, black eyes and a tan. She was wearing the same dark-blue suit as the first waiter, except she was wearing a very short skirt instead of pants, which exposed her long, tanned legs. Max, Kenny and Tyson's faces went like (O.o?!) at the sight of those legs; Kai had to admit they looked pretty good.

Anyway, back to Rei.

"OH MY GOOOOOOOD!!! REI, YOU PIG! WHY HAVEN'T YOU CALLED ME?!!!"

"Yeah, Rei." Max chimed in, and Tyson added "You PIG."

She grabbed Rei's shirt, and pulled him up. Rei began to sweat-drop.

"Uh… C-Clarise… hi…!" he stammered, trying desperately to think of a way to escape her clutches.

(What is she doing here?! I thought she was fired!)

Let me tell you why Rei was so afraid of Clarise. She was crazy. A homicidal maniac is the term he would have preferred. She had once threatened to pour a bucket of boiling water on him if he didn't sleep with her straight away, and when he refused, she actually poured it on him! Rei had dodged most of the shower, but a cupful had landed on his side and burnt off his skin, and he had ended up in hospital for weeks. Clarise had threatened him with various other grizzly ways to die, and Rei wouldn't have taken her seriously, except she really did try to execute her threats, and Rei had only escaped every time by luck. He especially remembered the time when Clarise had tried to shred him with a lawnmower. She'd brought it upstairs with her to his room, put it on his bed, and started it up. If Rei hadn't been a light sleeper, he wouldn't have lived to see the next day. She had lived in the same town with him, and Rei would bet that she had slept with every man under thirty there. The girl was freaky. He hated her guts. And the fact that she still expected him to jump into her arms after all the times she had attempted to kill him didn't convince him of her sanity, either.

"DO YOU KNOW THAT KEIRA AND GAIA ARE STAYING HERE, TOO? I BET YOU DIDN'T!" she screeched. Rei's hopes for survival increased. If Gaia and Keira were here, then they could help him out.

"Hey, Clarise! That's no way to treat an old friend, now, is it?" (Speak of the devil,) Rei thought, feeling a strange thrill in his stomach. Clarise unhooked her long, red nails from his shirt, and stepped back.

"Till next time, Rei baby," she whispered menacingly,

"Till next time…"

Rei shuddered, and hurriedly took three long steps away from her. "Don't count on it."

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Hey, leave him alone, Clarise." Two girls appeared from behind a screen, and smiled at them.

(Gaia… it's YOU…!) Rei thought, and smiled unconsciously at her. Kai saw something change in his friend's face at the sight of the girls, or rather, the second, white-haired girl. Something shifted in his expression, revealing something that Kai had never seen before in anybody's face. Kai narrowed his eyes at her.

The first of the girls had short red hair, and blue-gray eyes. She had a slight figure, and wore a blue shirt and black pants; it was obvious she didn't work here. The girl introduced herself as Keira.

The second one, who had caught Rei's eyes (and, unknowingly, the rest of the team's eyes too, including Kai) was a slightly short girl with a nicely curved body. Her skin was the color of dark caramel, and glowed. She had almond-shaped brown-black eyes, long white hair that reached the small of her back, and curled around her shoulders. She wore a white shirt similar to Rei's one, but without all the yellow bits, and a red skirt that went down to her ankles. A big black belt hung around her middle, and she wore flat shoes like Rei's. She raised her hand in greeting, and he quickly stood up, and his smile widened into a grin.

"Guys," Rei went over to her side, "I'd like you to meet Gaia. Gaia, these are my team-mates: Kai, Max, Tyson and Kenny." He pointed to each in turn.

"Hi."

"Hello!"

"Hey, there."

A nod from Kai. Rei felt pleased at their reaction to her, especially Kai's. He thought it a great favor that his friend acknowledged her, and had greeted her in his own way.

(He made the effort. Maybe there's hope for you yet, Kai.)

Gaia smiled at each in turn, and turned to Rei.

"It's… good to have you back, Rei-san," she said softly, and Ray felt his stomach do a 360-degree flip.

"It's good to be back, Gaia." He stared at her face two seconds longer, then turned away. Keira was flirting with Max and Tyson and Kenny, and Max suddenly turned a bright shade of red, while Tyson laughed at him. Clarise was trying it on with Kai, but his glares shriveled even her die-hard attempts. He came over to them, and told Rei bluntly:

"Ask that fool of a girl to leave me alone if she values her life."

Rei could see that the Russian meant business, but he really didn't want to go near that maniac.

"I'll go talk to her," Gaia stated calmly, and walked off towards Clarise.

"Thanks," he said, genuinely grateful, and felt a twinge in his chest as he watched Gaia walking away. He sighed, and ran his fingers through his fringe.

"You really… like her, don't you?" Kai asked him, feeling somewhat awkward. Rei didn't even look at his friend; he knew Kai would work it out the minute he saw Rei with her.

"Like isn't the word, buddy." He sighed again, and turned to look at Kai's face. He wondered once more what went on behind that calm mask – how was it that he was so comfortable expressing his feelings to his friend, when Kai had never told him anything about what went on in his own heart? When he could be so cold to others?

Rei worried about Kai a lot. He wondered when he would open up and allow himself to have more expressions than two – calm, and angry.

"I see." Kai's mouth twitched into a small smile;

"What is the word, then?"

Rei smiled awkwardly, and blushed. He shrugged. He rubbed his neck, and his smile widened into a grin, which showed off his fangs.

"I-I don't know."

He glanced at Gaia, who was arguing quietly with Clarise. He decided to throw the ball back into Kai's court. "What do you think, Kai?"

The silver-haired boy looked troubled. Rei saw he had touched a raw nerve, and apologized to him. He didn't want to offend his friend. Not now, when things were going so well.

"So," he said after a pause, "Does your Kai-ness approve?"

"Do I approve of Gaia?" Kai said, then looked at her thoughtfully.

"Well… she seems like a nice girl. Quiet. Polite. She's… pretty, I have to give you that. Can't really say any more since I don't know her."

Kai wondered why Rei would ask him such a question. Could it be that his friend valued his opinion that much?

"I just want to know what you think. I trust your judgement, Kai." Kai glanced at him sharply, and said "You do?" before he could stop himself. Rei nodded.

"Yeah, man. Of course I do."

Kai stared at Rei, making him feel a little uncomfortable.

"Hmm." Kai looked away. "Anyway, have you known her for a while?"

"We grew up together. In the same little village." Rei's eyes were distant, like he was watching a memory in his mind.

"She came to live next door to us back when I was 6. I was playing in my yard when she was brought to our town, and she was crying. I thought I had done something to her, so I jumped over the fence and went to see what she was crying about… and when I asked, she looked up at me and said "I'm crying because I will never see my parents again."

"Gaia was so mature… even back then. I asked her why, and she said: 'Because they have died. They're dead and buried. Dead!'"

Rei smiled, perhaps a little inappropriately, and glanced at her again.

"And then she hit me, and ran inside her house. I didn't see her again for ages. When I did, she had calmed down. And she's been calm ever since." At this point, Rei looked a little sad.

Kai frowned.

"Don't be angry, Kai… but she reminds me of you. You both are too calm. Too quiet. Like you don't want the world to know what you're feeling."

Kai knew that Rei was close to the truth. Too close for comfort. So he did what he usually did when he was confronted by the truth.

He did a disappearing act.

Rei watched him go, wondering if it was something he had said. He was about to go after Kai, when Gaia appeared next to him, and touched his arm.

"Tell me what you've been up to, Rei-san. It's been a few years, now, hasn't it?"

Rei smiled down at her. "Yes, it has." He pulled her along by her arm, and they went outside to have a little privacy. They stood near the wall, and looked at the milling crowds.

"You've grown, Gaia." Rei looked at her with a wry smile.

"In a good way, or a bad way?" She gave a smile just as wry, then changed the subject.

"I saw you on TV the other day. Our Rei, a champion! I was proud."

She touched his shoulder, and he felt his skin tingling where her fingers lay.

"Well done." She looked at his eyes, and blinked, feeling a little weird. She thought she'd seen something strange there, something… different.

For the first time in that evening, Rei allowed himself to stare into her eyes, and stop breathing. Her dark-brown eyes looked into his, and he felt his legs weakening, and his breath catching. Gaia saw pain in his eyes, and his cheeks suddenly flamed red.

"Rei? Are you okay?"

He blinked, and snapped out of it.

"Rei?"

"What?"

"…Never mind." She gave him a puzzled glance, then shrugged; she would find out what was up with him later.

"I was saying that you must come back home soon. I'm leaving tonight."

"No way! We're going tomorrow!" he said, back to his usual self again. "How's your grandfather?"

"He's fine. So are your parents. And your little sister's going out with somebody! Did you hear?"

"………?"

"It's that Xiaou Ming guy from the grocery-store. Isn't that sweet?"

"………?!"

Gaia tried her last weapon.

"Riku said she wants to marry him in a few months, and your parents have agreed."

Cruel, but effective, Gaia reckoned.   
"WHAT?!"

Gaia laughed. "I'm just kidding! She doesn't want to marry him. Not yet, at any rate."   
"Tsk, Gaia! Of course she won't marry him."

"How do you know?" Gaia asked quietly, and smirked at him.

To be honest, he didn't really know. He just hoped Riku-chan wouldn't, because… well, simply because.

"Never mind how I know; tell me about what you've been up to. All I've been doing is travelling around boring old villages and learning how to cook, clean and beyblade. The rest you already know from TV."

Gaia cleared her throat. "Well, nothing much, really. Fong from the workshop stopped stalking me after Grandpa taught him a lesson."

"About time. That guy was always bugging you."

Gaia didn't know what came over her. She just suddenly took his hands, and said: "I've missed you, Rei."

He blushed, and looked at her through his fringe.

"I've missed you too." He felt a sharp pang in his chest, and took a shaky breath.

"Why did you leave?" she asked him, silent accusation in her eyes. Rei let go of her hands, and sighed.

"Because I had to go out and see the world. Experience it. I didn't see much point in staying in one spot for the remainder of my life, Gaia, and I still don't." He looked at her, and put his hand on her cheek. Their eyes met, and something passed between them, changing the way Gaia thought about Rei for the rest of her life.

"I don't regret leaving, Gaia." She felt butterflies in her stomach, and wondered why.

(It's just Rei-san. Nobody else. He only thinks about me like he would think about Riku, his kid-sister.)

Rei brushed her hair back from her eyes, took a deep breath, and said:

"I just regret not taking you with me."

And with that, he got up, and went back inside, leaving a shaken Gaia standing outside.

**

* * *

**

A/N: As you all can see, I've made a few changes. Rei will now, and forever more stay REI. Also, chapters 1 to 8 are now in their final, possibly never to be modified form. Enjoy.


	2. Broken Hearts

"THERE'S JUST SOMETHING ABOUT GAIA…" 

A Beyblade Fic

By Sakin-chan

****

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Beyblade, Ray, Kai, Max Kenny or Tyson, and I don't own anything that has anything to do with Beyblade. Gaia and Co., however, are a different story. Oh, and Hong Kong and Shilong belong to the People's Republic of China.

AN: Revised, rewritten and re-mastered.

Chapter 2: 'Broken Hearts'

* * *

[On the train to Rei's home, Tiger River Village…]

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"How long till we get there? I'm sick of Tyson's stupid snoring." Max moaned.

"Shut up."

The Bladebreakers were all bored to death, except Tyson, who had gone to sleep (obviously). The deadness of the journey was starting to get on even Rei's nerves, and he'd taken it before. Kai grabbed the map, and checked it.

"Where are we now?"

Rei looked out at the surrounding scenery.

"Umm… around Shilong… which means three, four hours more at the least." Ray looked surprised at his team-mates' loud groaning – even Kai looked disconcerted. What was so horrible about a few hours' wait? He'd waited a lot longer than that, once. Besides, seeing her at the end of the road made it all worth it. His friends clearly didn't think so. Tyson was still snoring.

"I suppose we'll have to walk a bit further, too." Kenny said.

"Yes, actually," Rei agreed, "15 miles."

"NOOOO!!!"

* * *

[Later, at an old, broken down train-station…]

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"Are you sure this is the right place?" Kenny asked, ever the doubtful one. The rest of the group looked menacingly at Rei.

"Sure!" he said confidently, "Trust me."

"It had better be." Tyson said darkly.

Kenny looked around the derelict station, and sighed. The floorboards of the platform creaked when you stepped on them, sounding like something out of an old horror-movie. There was an old wooden building on the platform, the wood eaten through with maggots and blackened with countless rainfalls and decay.

He went inside the building, looking for any signs of human life. Inside was worse than the outside. There was nothing there except a few scattered pieces of furniture, and one, solitary broken table.

(The place must have been a busy tavern, once,) Kenny thought, and looked at the tattered remains of what must have been a beautiful screen. It had pictures of dragons, and Chinese warriors battling fiercely in order to save a princess in a castle, which was drawn in the uppermost right corner. Kenny smiled. He would have liked to see this when it was new.

"Kenny! Come out, man, we're leaving!" He snapped out of his dream, and went outside to find the others. They weren't gathered on the platform, but before Kenny panicked, he heard Tyson squabbling with Kai, and went around the corner.

"I am not getting in THAT!" Tyson said angrily.

"D'you wanna walk instead? This is the best we've got."

Kai's coolness matched Tyson's fiery temper step for step.

"What's up?"

The boys turned to look at Kenny, who had just appeared around the corner.

"Tyson here thinks he's too good to ride a donkey-cart." Rei said, looking angry.

"I didn't say that!" Tyson snapped.

"Sure what it looks like from here."

"You need to get some glasses, man!"

Suddenly, Rei was in Tyson's face. Tyson had no memory of seeing him move: he'd been standing at least two meters away; yet here he was right in front of him, looking mighty pissed.

"You need to learn some respect." Rei growled at him, and then went to sit in the cart. The donkey brayed. He looked at the other boys.

"Whoever wants to come with me, can come in the cart. The rest can be left behind. Choose."

The boys looked at each other, and Max and Kenny both climbed the cart. They looked at Tyson, and hoped he wouldn't start another argument.

Kai glared at Tyson, and Rei just… glared. Tyson gave in.

"Oh, alright."

He climbed in, sulking. Kai climbed in after him, aware that it was hard to look cool sitting in a donkey-cart that smelled.

(Five baths as soon as we get there,) he promised himself, (and an early night.)

He thought about his grandfather, and how lonely it would have been, spending summer in that great big house full of freezing, empty halls, and hired people that didn't give a damn. He sighed.

(Give me a smelly old donkey-cart, any day.)

* * *

[The village at last, sunset…]

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The boys hopped off at the ornamental wooden gates of Rei's village, and Rei said something in Chinese to the driver, and tipped him out of his money that he had remembered to change to Yen at the last minute. His bad mood had entirely evaporated, to be replaced by a giddy feeling of happiness. Anticipation. Rei felt like he had finally found where he belonged, and realized that he had really missed the place while he was gone.

The actual village was half-a-mile below, deep in a valley between two mountains. It was a cluster of houses situated in the middle of several green rectangular fields of what looked like rice-paddies and other crops. A river snaked around it like a silver necklace that had been left carelessly on the ground. As Rei looked at it, he felt a vague sense of nostalgia – he remembered how, when he was younger, he ran down the side of this very hilltop, racing other kids and barely winning. He remembered the feeling of wild exhilaration, of believing that he could fly like a bird if he just jumped off the ground. Rei wanted to feel like that just one more time.

He grinned at the others. And set off down the hill.

"CATCH ME IF YOU CAAAAAAAN!" he cried, going faster and faster.

Tyson did not need to be told twice. "WAIT FOR ME!" he shouted, and followed Rei, who was already a dot in the distance. Kenny puffed past, running after them, or trying anyway. Only Kai and Max remained.

"Wanna race?" Max challenged Kai.

"Or are you too chicken?"

Kai narrowed his eyes, and smiled coldly.

"You think you have a chance, blondie?"

"Watch me."

The two boys sized each other up; Kai knew that Max wouldn't win. Max wanted Kai to cheer up and to do so, he realized, he had to appeal to Kai's competitiveness. He had to challenge him to a race. He knew the older boy would never have run down the hill otherwise.

"Three…" Kai narrowed his eyes at the village in the distance.

He had to win.

"Two…" Max glanced at Kai, hoping the older boy wouldn't outdistance him by too much. He stared at the faraway village.

"ONE!" And they both shot off like bullets down the steep incline, each wanting to reach the village before the other.

-----------

Rei reached the village at the bottom, heart thudding, gasping for breath, and sweating with exertion. He staggered forwards a few steps, then bent down, his hands on his knees.

Finally, he looked up. He was here. He was really here! And after three years. He felt an urgent need to run back inside his own house right this minute, but he knew he had to wait for the others.

Rei looked at the sunset, sinking down behind the farthest houses, one of which he had spent fourteen years of his life in. How many times had he watched that same sunset from his bedroom window? Now he watched the last of it's dying rays turning the rooftops of his village into a burning orange, and the sky into a golden red and violent purple color, like the feathers of a phoenix in it's prime.

A scene so old, but which nevertheless always managed to impress Rei with it's simple beauty. He heard distant yells behind him; then, deciding that he could wait no longer, walked into the village he had not seen for three years.

Everything was the same, and yet different in his eyes. There was the bakery where he had been to buy bread from Mr. Wong ever since he could walk. To his left was the old tavern where Rhetia worked, forever on the lookout for poor, unsuspecting husbands. He chuckled, wondering if she had managed to find someone yet. There was the house that had nearly fallen in on his father a few years back, after it was set on fire by Mad Mao Jin and her baby had been trapped inside.

Some kids were running in front of him, playing with a stick and a wheel from somebody's bike. Women were walking up and down the streets, yelling at their children and at each other, even though they could hear each other perfectly well. A girl was standing and flirting with a guy, holding a basket full of laundry on her head and trying to flick her hair without dropping all the clothes on the ground. He smiled at them; each was blushing at the other, and when the girl put down the basket to hold the boy's hand, Rei felt a twinge of jealousy in his stomach. He turned away, and forced himself to move on.

Finally, he arrived.

"Home…" he whispered, anxiety building up inside him.

(What will I say?) he thought nervously;

("Oh, hi mom, what's for dinner? By the way, sorry for being gone for over three years, got caught up at a friends'." Might as well sign my death warrant.)

He looked up at the two-storey building with the red roof and wooden doors, and swallowed. He looked behind him, and saw his friends ambling along a few meters behind him; he waved at them, and went inside.

There was nobody in the hall. Rei looked at the stairs, and went inside to see where his folks had gone. He looked at the bare living room with the screen painting of a heron on it as he passed, and went to the kitchen. There was nobody there, either. He decided to go outside.

"REI!"

He jumped, and quickly looked around. When he saw who it was, he felt suddenly very relieved.

"RIKU!"

The girl ran towards him, and flung her arms around his neck, sobbing.

"I knew you would come back," she cried, "I knew you would! Ma and Pa have written you off as dead, but I knew you were still alive! Where have you been, Rei? We've all been worried sick about you, even though Pa-san won't admit it."

Rei held his little sister tightly, and sighed into her long, black hair. She had grown a lot, since Rei had last seen her. Then she'd been twelve. Now, she was fifteen, and quite a different young woman. For a woman she was fast becoming. She was his spitting image, with the dark, lustrous hair, and the amber, shining eyes. Her body was a lot curvier than when he'd last seen her; in short, she was very beautiful.

(I'm going to have to keep an eye on her,) he thought, worried that one of her many followers would try it on with her. (Over my dead body.)

"Where are Ma and Pa? What's been happening since I left? We've got a lot of catching-up to do, Riku-san." Rei looked down at his sister, and grinned. "But not now."

"Whaaaat?! But you only just came!" Riku was filled with dismay. How could Rei-san be leaving again so soon? She looked at her feet, and sulked.

"…Why are you always in such a hurry?" she asked sullenly. Rei looked at her; she had on her sad-puppy-face, and it made him smile. She hadn't changed that much after all!

"Relax!" he said, patting her head patronizingly.

"I'm just going to over to Gaia's, to say hi. I promised, you see. Then I'm yours for the rest of the holidays!" Riku looked at him gravely.

"I hope you mean it."

"I do. Meanwhile," he turned her towards the Village Square, where the rest of the Bladebreakers were walking towards them, a gaggle of kids following them. "Those are the Bladebreakers. My pals. Get them safely inside, before the crowd tramples them. Keep them occupied for me, sis."

With that said, he went outside and jumped over the fence between his house and Gaia's, leaving his sister to meet the other boys and bring them to his house.

Rei was practically burning with anticipation as he neared the backdoor of Gaia's house. He felt like he would burst if he didn't find her soon!

As he turned the corner, he heard voices coming from inside the house. He headed straight for them before he noticed that the voices weren't at all the sort of voices you would find inside Gaia's house. Gaia's house was this quiet place where nobody ever gets angry. But these voices – God, were they loud and angry. Rei sidled over to the window at the side of the house, and crouched down to eavesdrop on the conversation inside.

This is what he heard…

"NO, GRANDPA! NO!"

(That's Gaia!) he thought, wondering what had happened to make her so angry.

"I'm sorry child, but you must. It is for your own welfare."

"But I can't! I can't!"

"We will end up homeless. Is that what you want?"

Ray felt a sense of foreboding when he heard that. Just what was going on?

"No, it's just… isn't there any other way we can do this?"

He heard the old man sigh: it was a tired, heartsick old sigh. It made Rei's stomach feel a little strange. (It's called sympathy,) his mind told him.

"No."

Now he could hear nothing but silence. A tense, angry silence.

"I am sorry to put you in this position, Gaia. If it means anything to you, I am deeply regretful."

"Deeply regretful?" she says, her voice rising several decibels;

"Deeply regretful?! You're throwing me out to the wolves, and that's all you can say?!" Her voice became shaky.

"No. I refuse, Grandpa. I won't do it! I won't."

Rei could see her face in a mirror opposite the window where he crouched. He could see the tears streaming down her face, and his stomach gave a sickening lurch.

"I WILL NOT MARRY HITORU'S SON! I WILL NOT MARRY LEE TO SAVE THIS STUPID BUILDING! I REFUSE TO THROW MY LIFE AWAY FOR A DEAL WITH A WEALTHY BASTARD, WHOSE SON CANNOT FIND A WIFE THROUGH ANY OTHER MEANS THAN BLACKMAIL! NO, YOU HEAR? NO!"

Rei gasped, horrified. He couldn't believe it. (Lee?) he thought, numb. His knuckles were white where he clutched the window-sill too tightly.

(She's marrying Lee? No… no way. No way!)

Suddenly, he heard a door being flung open, and scrambled off over the fence to his yard, feeling tears threatening and an overpowering sense of betrayal. He went into his house, feeling worse than he had ever felt in his entire life.

Rei's heart was broken.

* * *

A/N: How'd you like that dose of angsty, teenage melodrama?

The worst is yet to come… 


	3. Caramelgirl

"There's just something about Gaia…" 

A Beyblade Fic

By Sakin-chan

Disclaimer: No. I don't own Beyblade or anything that has anything that has anything to do with Beyblade except for the plot of my story.

A/N: Enjoy!

Chapter Three: 'Caramel-girl'

* * *

Rei woke up the next morning with a killer migraine. He had been awake all night, and had only gone to sleep when his neighbor Sogura's cock crowed at dawn. As a result, he was in a horrible mood. He felt cranky and mean, and not to mention, terribly, terribly jealous.

(Goddamn Lee, and his #%¤&!£§ money. Can't leave me alone for two seconds. Always has to bug me and try to ruin my life, and everybody else's!) he thought, slamming the pot on the table, and causing everyone to jump. He filled his cup (unknowingly) with yesterday's coffee, and his bad mood became worse when he downed the whole cup.

"AAAAGH! Cough; Hack; GAG! GODDAMMIT!"

"What's his problem?" Kai asked Riku, who shrugged.

He had come to like her (despite himself) when he got to know her better. She was smart, in his opinion. Unbeknownst to him though, our Riku had a MAJOR crush on Kai, and proclaimed her love to her girlfriends every evening;

"He is SO hot! I seen him without a shirt, and… whoa! That's all I'm gonna say!" (This is an utter LIE; he was wearing a T-shirt, and snoring, at the time she says she 'saw' him.)

(Whole group faints in complete Kai-appreciation.)

Rei's mother heard him shouting, and bopped him over the head for his bad manners.

"Have some shame, Rei! Don't behave so badly in front of our visitors." She frowned at him. A muscle in his jaw twitched, and Rei had to fight to keep his temper from taking a bite out of his mom. He mumbled something under his breath, and stalked out of the house. Kai looked at the two women, and the rest of the team, and sighed.

"I'll go talk to him, Mrs.Kon; see what's wrong," he announced, and left after Rei.

* * *

Kai caught up with him halfway through the little village square.

"Someone CLEARLY woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. What's your problem?" he asked the other boy casually. Rei glared at him, and sighed.

"NOTHING'S my 'problem'." he scowled.

Kai looked at him out of the corner of his eye. There really was something wrong. Kai had an idea it had something to do with a certain white-haired girl. "Whatever you say." Kai shrugged, and was silent.

Rei suddenly began humming the tune to 'Caramel-girl'. It was an old song she'd taught him. Everywhere he looked, there were reminders of his and Gaia's childhood together. It wasn't fair; it wasn't right! He was the one who should be with her, not Lee. He sighed.

(…Anyone but Lee.)

Anyway, the song went something like this:

"Caramel-girl, oh Caramel-girl,

Your skin reminds me of

CHOC-OH-LATE whirl!

If I have too much,

It makes me wanna HURL!

But you're so sweet,

You're a real PEARL…

I can't resist

My CARAMEL-GIRL!"

After the last note, he ground his teeth, and snarled : "I HATE CARAMEL."

* * *

Riku was worried about her brother. What could have made him so angry? She'd decided to go and ask the last person he was with before his foul mood had descended, and that person was Gaia. Riku remembered how happy he had been when he arrived yesterday, and how miserable he'd looked in comparison today. Gaia must have done something!

[Knock, knock!]

"YEAH, WHA-! Oh, hi, Riku." Gaia stood in front of the door, blocking the way in. Riku looked at her, worried all of a sudden. Gaia's eyes were red, and her usually neat self was gone; her hair was disheveled and all over the place; her clothes had tears and cuts in them, and were stained with what looked like coffee; and her face wore a tired expression. Gaia sighed, and leaned on the door.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to you about-" Riku was interrupted by a loud noise; something crashed down inside the house, making a commotion. Gaia turned around, and ran into the house, Riku following closely on her heels. Gaia went into the kitchen, and Riku heard a blood-curdling scream, and crashed in through the door after her, scared. When she saw what had happened, Riku sank down on the floor, and swallowed hard.

Gaia's grandfather was lying on the floor, unconscious. Gaia was running around, trying to find a First-aid kit, forgetting that they didn't have one. When she remembered, she ran out of the house, screaming for help.

"Gaia! Wait!" Riku called after her, but Gaia couldn't hear her. She had to get to Mai Li fast. She was the only one who could help them, the only one. She'd been there when Grandpa had a seizure last time, and… Gaia couldn't let him die, she couldn't! If she did, then she would HAVE to marry Lee. And she wouldn't have the heart to disobey him. Not if it was his DEATH-WISH.

Gaia was running down an alleyway when she heard people coming in the opposite direction. As she got closer to where the alley met the main-road, she recognized the two boys.

(Rei! And his friend, too! Thank GOD!) she thought, feeling a pang right between her stomach and her ribcage. She tried to run faster; every second was vital for her grandfather's survival.

Rei saw Gaia running towards them down an alley at the speed of LIGHT, practically, and felt instantly cheered up, but at the same time, his stomach turned with jealousy at the thought of her impending wedding with Lee. He noticed how messed-up she looked, and hoped it wasn't serious.

Gaia reached the two boys, and crashed into Rei, who promptly caught her in his arms. Rei felt her struggling for breath, and her heart drumming in her chest; she was shaking. Why? Gaia clung on for dear life, gulping air into her lungs, trying to calm her racing heart so that she could tell them.

And then suddenly she became aware. She opened her eyes, and realized that she was IN HIS ARMS. In Rei's arms. And it felt weird… good-weird…! This was definitely not the Rei she remembered – he had grown up into a good-looking… perhaps even beautiful… young man. And she?

Well, she was just Gaia. Nothing special at all.

She could feel his strong arms enveloping her in a warm hug, making her skin tingle – she could feel his own heart-beat. Did she imagine it, or was it slightly quicker than normal?

She felt his muscled body pressing against hers, her breasts pressed against his chest, and blushed, painfully aware that he was now a young man and she was a… well, a woman. Her skin tingled where it made contact with his skin, and she felt his hand gently brushing the small of her back. The bear-hugs they used to share were something they couldn't do now, because they were too old, too adult. Not without risking parental wrath.

And then realized she was all sweaty from her run. Oh, how she must reek! She stiffened in even more painful shame, wondering how she could have fallen so hard.

But still… Still he had held her like he was concerned, as if she were precious to him. Gaia felt her spine weakening along with her legs, and a strange feeling was sown, beginning to grow in between her stomach and chest.

He held her tight for a second, just the smallest second, so he could savor the memory later and breathed in her smell. Earthy-sweet, like a forest-flower, and a little sweaty. Then he pushed her away from him, to her surprise. He couldn't stand her being close for more than a little while.

Kai looked at the pair and sighed, shaking his head. They were so perfect for each other, those two, but they were both too blind to realize it. He felt angry with Rei for pushing her away, and resolved to talk to the stupid fool about it later. But for now, other things needed seeing to.

"What's wrong, Gaia?" Kai asked her. She looked at him, and stammered.

"I-I didn't… I… it… it wasn't m-my fault… he fell in the k-k-kitchen, and m-maybe he hit his head, o-or something… I don't know…" she babbled, while Rei tried to calm her down.

"Just tell us what happened. Are you okay? …Did someone try to hurt you?" he asked her, holding her shoulders to steady her. The girl took a deep breath, and calmed down.

"Grandpa… he's unconscious. I… he… I dunno what happened, but he's not waking up. I left him with Riku…" she gasped. "Riku! I need to get a doctor! Oh, Rei, will he die? Will grandpa DIE?!"

Rei calmed her, and assured her nothing like that would happen.

"Your Grandpa will be fine. Just have a little faith in him." He smiled at her, and Gaia smiled back weakly.

Kai saw the desperation in her eyes, and how comforted she was by Rei proposing to go to someone named Mai Li for her, and swallowed a lump in his throat. He looked away, ignoring the weird feeling in his stomach. He felt a hand slapping his shoulder, and glanced at Ray.

"Take care of her for me, Kai," Rei said to him, and ran off, 'tail' flying. Kai watched him turn the corner, then looked at Gaia. She was staring after Rei, a wistful look on her face.

"You like him, don't you?" he asked her bluntly. Gaia looked at him, surprised.

"N-No," she stuttered, blushing.

"I know it's not my business or anything, but Rei's my buddy, and… I want to know." Kai said, and looked at her. Gaia brushed her silvery hair back behind her ear, and sighed, seeing Kai wasn't going to be fooled.

"Rei told me you were smart," she said, and began walking back to her house, feeling better now that she knew Rei was here,

"…but he didn't tell me HOW smart."

Kai shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess like him." She ran her hand through her fringe just the way Rei did, which made Kai feel a little creeped out, and grinned.

Kai gave his trademark "Hmph", and kept up with her, thinking about whether he should tell her how Rei felt about her. If he did, Rei would hate Kai forever. He would feel betrayed. Kai decided he had better keep his mouth shut.

"Have you ever felt fear?" she asked him suddenly. He was surprised.

"Why?"

"You know when you're alone at night, right after you've had a horrible nightmare, and you're all cold and stuff?" she glanced at Kai's eyes, trying to fathom what went on behind that gray wall, seeing if he knew what she meant. Kai had to acknowledge (at least to himself) that he understood all too well what she was talking about.

"And then you think, 'Oh, I wish someone was here to keep me company', but then you look, and there isn't anybody there…" she ran her fingers through her hair again, and sighed, opening the gate to her yard for him.

"Well, I've found my someone, and that's Rei. He… I know he'll be there for me if I ever have a nightmare, and will keep me company when I'm alone at night."

She looked at Kai; a long, curious look… and then she walked in.

Kai watched her go inside the house, and thought about what she had said. It made sense to him.

"Hmph," he said to himself,

"She loves him."

* * *

Mai Li turned out to be a fast runner: nearly faster than Rei. As they raced through the alleys and backways of his hometown, he thought of how Gaia was doing. She had been really shaken up, almost as much as the time when she had lost her parents. He grimaced.

(I hope she's okay. I wouldn't want her to…) he thought, wondering what it was he wouldn't want her to do. Somehow, he wasn't able to answer that question for himself.

"…I said, do you know what happened?"

Rei blinked; Mai Li had been talking to him. He looked at her, and shook his head.

"Gaia said he had had some kinda seizure. She said he fell in the kitchen." He frowned, thinking about Gaia. If she did something stupid…

(That's stupid,) he scolded himself;

(I left Kai with her. She'll be fine in his hands.)

Mai Li glanced at the cat-boy running next to her, and sighed. He reminded her so much of… but never mind. He was dead; there was no point in bringing it up now. Mai had felt a NASTY shock when she had opened the door – she had thought it was Han come back from the grave!

Let me tell you a little about Mai Li. She was a 17 year-old girl with long black hair, pale white skin, and wide green eyes. Mai was the local wise-woman (albeit young, but her mother and grandmother used to be wisewomen too, before they died.)

A female Li always lived either alone, or with other female Li's, in a hut on the outskirts of town. Mai thought it was terribly lonely, as a Li wasn't allowed to have a lover, or friend, living with her in, or nearby her hut.

Then she met Han one rainy day, and he saved her from falling into the old well. She was grateful, and was always as nice as possible to him, when once he told her that he would never speak to her again if she kept acting like a complete doll around him. They'd had a fight, but they both came around, and Han gave her a box of rice-candy as a present, then ate it himself. Ever since then, they had been great friends, and they gradually fell in love with each other.

She remembered he had confessed to her first about his feelings – humans, he used to say, have to tell the truth, and honor their feelings, because they are what make us different from animals. He used to spout these things at any possible moment, to anyone who might be standing nearby, but sometimes, there was wisdom in his random sayings. Not that he was stupid; far from it, he just joked around a lot. Mai remembered his solemn face, and his serious manner, when he told her what she had been dreaming about for so long; that he really did love her; and his face when she confessed too. He looked like he'd won the lottery!

Mai used to sneak out to meet him in the nearby forest at their favorite spot: beneath an old cherry-tree. Han used to have longish, messy dark-blue hair in a pigtail, as he hated combing it, and laughing amber eyes. His face always wore a ridiculously happy grin (except when he was dangerously angry with someone – then he looked SCARY), and, compared to him, Mai was like a soggy blanket. Han always used to say she was way too serious, and she used to frown at him, smiling even when she didn't want to. He always made her feel happy. Han was taller than her by about half a head, and was well-built, on account of his father, making him work in their farm all day. At night, when they could both steal away from their duties, they used to meet at the old tree, and spend the whole night together, and only return at dawn.

But 2 years after she'd first met him, on her sixteenth birthday, he fell suddenly ill, and never recovered. She had tried all she could to keep Han alive; but her cures had failed, and the doctor didn't know what had happened, so he had died in extreme pain. Mai had been present at his death, and had been standing next to his bed and holding his hand, when she'd heard him breathe his last breath. The death-rattle. She remembered he had called HER name – "Mai". His mother had kicked her out of their house after he died, cursing Mai and blaming her for Han's death.

It had hurt so much.

That day, Mai had thought she would die, and yet here she was, still alive. She still carried his memory inside her like a razor she'd swallowed, cutting into her and causing her horrible pain. She held herself responsible for his death, and for every cure of hers that had failed afterwards. That was why, at the age of 17, she walked around with a chip on her shoulder the size of a house, and she always wore dark clothes.

Nevertheless, people often came to her for a cure, as the nearest doctor lived 5 miles away, and no one in Rei's village had cars, or the money to buy them. Besides, travelling around in rural China in an automobile was practically SUICIDE, as the roads were NOT man's best friend. Mai was slim, and was slightly shorter than, say, Kai.

She wore a workers outfit of a gray pair of cotton-trousers, and a light, brown shirt tied closed with a black scarf around her middle. She'd tied her hair up in a bun, but she never wore any make-up or perfume. She thought it stupid to use artificial methods to attract attention from men – indeed, she thought attracting men was an amazingly dumb idea.

Her face usually had a serious frown on it, which hid her natural beauty quite well. All the boys in the village stayed far away from her, as she was known to pour buckets of freezing water on any and all males who came to her door and were under the age of twenty-five.

Anyway, when they reached the house, Gaia rushed out and gave her a quick hug, and led her inside. Rei followed them, and saw the old man had gotten a pillow under his head, and Riku was covering him with a duvet. The old man, whom everyone feared… to see him reduced to a quivering infant, was a sorry thing indeed, in Rei's opinion. Gaia sat next to him, and held his hand, and Kai was nowhere to be found. Mai Li went down on her knees, and checked the old man's pulse, and looked in his eyes. Ray saw her stiffen; then she quickly got up and left the room.

Then she stuck her head back in, and beckoned to him.

"Yea-!"

Mai yanked him away from the door, finger on her lips, and they tiptoed out to the garden. Rei instantly had a feeling it was BAD news.

"What's up?"

"It's Grandpa… I…" she looked at her feet, and bit her lip. "He's…" she swallowed, and was quiet.

"He's what?" Rei hissed, grabbing the older girl's arms tightly, willing it to be something, ANYTHING, other than bad news. Mai wrestled loose, creeped out by how much Rei's eyes looked the same as Han's when he used to be angry.

"Bluntly?" she turned away, and glanced at him over her shoulder, readying herself for delivering the terrible blow. This was the part she hated most about her job.

"The old man's already gone. Sorry."

Rei gasped. "No… that's-" he was lost for words.

What was he going to tell Gaia?

"D'you want me to tell her?" Mai asked him, and he glanced up at her.

Rei shook his head.

"No. Thank you, but I can handle it myself."

Mai watched him go inside, and sighed in relief. Then she felt guilty.

Then she remembered Han.

* * *

Kai was sitting outside, away from it all. Just the way he liked it. He couldn't stand all that emotion in one place; it made him think, and he didn't want that.

(There's no point in me getting emotional along with everybody else.) he thought, sitting in the little corner behind the garden-shed in Gaia's yard.

He thought about his own Grandfather, and their relationship.

(I wish we didn't hate each other so much. I don't understand why the old coot is so hung up on taking over the world. What could be so fun about controlling everything? Thank god the whole Biovolt-thing didn't work out. I still can't believe he wanted to USE me like that…)

Kai sighed. (Oh well. I guess that's the way the cookie crumbles.)

He stared at the gray, broken wall, with the occasional flower blossoming in the cracks. It reminded him of his own life. Gray and ugly, but with the occasional spark of light. Kai smiled at his own metaphor. It made sense.

He suddenly heard something rustling behind him. His smile quickly slid off his face, and he got up to investigate. As he went around the far corner of the shed, he saw a figure turned away from him. As he got closer, he saw it was a girl with really long black hair.

(That's… not Riku,) he thought, because he knew he'd left her inside with the old man and Gaia.

Suddenly, the girl turned – and Kai found himself face to face with a girl his own age, with green eyes and a sad expression on her face. Kai saw the wet streaks that ran down her face, and realized, with a slightly weird feeling in his stomach, that she had been crying. He also realized that she was very pretty. His stomach went even weirder than before, and he swallowed hard to try and cure it.

"W-what's…" he tried again; something was lodged in his throat, and he found it harder than usual to say something.

"What's wrong?"

She looked at him, a curious expression on her face, and sighed. "I…" she gulped, trying to blink back tears.

Kai couldn't help himself. He put a hand on her shoulder, and then another.

(What am I doing?!) he thought suddenly;

(I don't even know her!)

"It's nothing." Something inside her shut itself off; she backed away, and pushed his hands off her. But Kai wasn't going to give up that easily. He tried just one more time.

"Why were you crying?" he asked her as kindly as he could. The girl gazed at him, giving him a strange look.

"It's just… the old man, the girl's grandfather, he… he's-" she said hesitatingly, when Kai interrupted her.

"-He's going to die, right?" he asked her gravely.

"Then you're Mai Li?"

Mai frowned at him. "How'd you-" she stopped, and sighed, her shoulders sagging. Kai thought that it couldn't be just the old man that was bugging her; she looked awfully sad for some reason. Maybe she was reminded of something she didn't want to think about, or remember.

"Since you know my name, you might as well tell me yours, eh?" she said suddenly, the sadness quickly stown away for later. Kai, surprised, smiled shyly, and looked down at his feet.

"MY name? …Just …Kai." He felt flattered that she wanted to know his name.

(Small Part Of Brain: "What's GOING ON here? Why is she MESSING with my HEAD?! AAARRGH!!!")

Min raised her eyebrow, and gave him a crooked smile. "Just-Kai?" she said, amused.

"Er… no, it's KAI."

"IT'S-JUST-KAI?" she said, laughing now. "Nice!"

"NO! My name is Kai!" he said, irritated.

Who did this girl think she was?

"That's more like it. Mai and Kai!"

"………?"

She smiled at him again, and Kai felt his face transform into a FURNACE.

The girl moved away a few steps in what he could only describe as a 'saunter', then looked back at him, and smiled. Kai felt his stomach acting up again, and smiled back nervously. What was she doing to him?

"Thanks, Kai. I guess I'll… see you around, then."

Kai watched her walk away, and went after her, to ask her what she meant, but when he turned the corner she'd gone around, he saw she'd 'disappeared'.

Kai was left standing and staring at an old, broken bucket, puzzled. He frowned, and blinked.

"Who was THAT?" he said softly, and smiled an embarrassed smile. He rubbed his neck.

"Talk about making a fool of yourself!"

* * *

Rei went inside, and saw Gaia still crouched on the floor. He went and sat down next to her, and she glanced at him.

"He's getting better, isn't he?" she asked Rei, who glanced at her grandpa, and grimaced. "I'm afraid not, Gaia." She looked shocked. Rei had to tell her, he couldn't just let her be so deluded about it. Her grandfather was dying.

"I've been talking to Mai-san about your grandpa, and…" he swallowed, and realized he wasn't ready to deliver such terrible news to someone.

(How does Mai do it?!) he thought, impressed.

"And…?" Gaia felt her hopes rising; surely it must be good news if Ray was going to tell her! He'd always brought her nothing but glad tidings.

Rei looked around the room; there was no one there except the old man, Riku, and Gaia and himself. He found himself wishing he could simply disappear like Kai did when he was faced with a difficult decision. He got up, and asked Riku to go outside.

"But-"

"-Please, Riku-chan. I need to tell her something concerning her grandpa. Trust me; you don't want to be around when this happens." Riku gave him an angry look, and strode off to look for Kai, or any of the rest of the Bladebreakers.

Now he had her on her own, there was no excuse not to spit it out straightaway.

(Gaia, don't hate me for this, but…) he thought, mentally preparing himself. He sat down opposite her, and took her hands.

(…I've got to tell you something which might ruin the rest of your life.)

He decided to do it quick and blunt.

"Gaia, Mai told me that your Grandpa is very ill. He's dying. I mean, he's going to die. And there's nothing we can do for him. I'm sorry." He repeated his apology again, to try and show her that he really didn't want to tell her this, that if there was a way of helping her grandpa…

"I'm so sorry."

Gaia just blinked. It was like she had turned to stone. This was not happening. She couldn't have heard right. Grandpa was NOT dying. Rei was lying. He must be lying, and maybe it was all some kinda terrible joke, and any second now, Grandpa would jump up and scream: "YOU CRYBABY! WE GOTCHA!" Maybe…

(No,) said a small, but truthful voice in her mind.

(No… You're just making up one excuse after another, refusing to see the simple truth. Since when did Rei lie? Can't you see the look on his face? Grandpa is DYING. There is nothing we can do about it. He will die, and you will be left all alone. Face it, Gaia! The old man, your last family, is dying! And when he dies, since you don't work, you'll be easy prey for Lee and old Hitoru, and your home will become demolished, and you will lose your life to Lee, and become his wife.

There is no hope.)

"NO!" Gaia cried, and got up. She looked at Rei as if she had never seen him before.

"No, you're LYING!" she bent and grabbed hold of his shirt. "You have to be lying!" Rei got up, and took her hands.

"I'm not. It's the truth."

Gaia felt RAGE building up inside her; she felt helpless, unable to do anything about anything. She remembered another time she had felt like this. When her parents died.

Suddenly, she had a flashback: a picture began to unfold in her mind. She saw a woman and a man… the woman had white hair, and a wide smile… "We'll be right there sweetheart!" she heard the woman say… they appeared to be in a car… a man looked back at her from the driver-seat… he grinned at her… he had dark-brown eyes, and… chocolate-brown skin… the woman was lighter… the radio was on, and a song was playing… "'Your skin reminds me of CHOC-OH-LATE whirl…'" …the woman bent forwards through the gap between the two seats… Gaia felt something pulling at her neck… the woman was adjusting something she was wearing… she looked into Gaia's eyes, and said:

"Mommy loves you, Gaia!"

The man chimed in:

"And don't forget your old man! He loves you, too. My Caramel-girl…" He turned around and looked at her… and smiled.

"Gaia…"

Suddenly, something gray filled the front-window… she heard a thundering whooshing sound…

"Gaia…?"

Gaia felt something slamming into her… her breath was knocked out of her… what was happening…?!

"Gaia…!"

Pain… like the universe had caved in on her… she couldn't breathe… the pain… she couldn't breathe!

"GAIA!"

She gasped, and normality rushed back. Gaia blinked; what the hell had just happened? She looked up and saw Rei bending over her. He heaved a relieved sigh.

"What happened? You suddenly fell, and I thought you…"

Gaia sat up, and scratched her head. Her mind was full of noise, and the memory of two people that may have been her… parents.

Right before the world had been torn apart.

"I think I just blacked-out." She looked at her grandpa, and said:

"If only this was a dream, too."

"What?"

"Oh, nothing."

* * *

Sen Mori passed away 4 o'clock that morning, 5th July, the third day of Rei's stay in China. Ray and Gaia had stayed awake, sitting together in complete silence, Rei's mom bringing over food at several points during that long night. Kai, Max, Tyson and Kenny, not to mention the Kon's and Mai Li, came to give Gaia their condolences, and to help with the funeral proceedings.

It had been the longest and the most agonizing day of her entire life (that she could remember).

Mori-san had been moved from the kitchen to his bedroom by Rei's Pa, and the old man had stayed in a coma the whole time until, and including, his death. When he died, he had simply stopped breathing, and they had only noticed when she had touched his hand, and it had been stiff and cold. Gaia had fainted, and Rei had to call for his dad to wake her up.

Her grandpa had died without saying a single word to her.

Not even goodbye.

* * *

A/N: And so, her grandpa has "shuffled off this mortal coil." (Hamlet)

I wasn't kidding when I said this was going to be a tragedy.


	4. The Truth Will Set You Free

"There's just something about Gaia…" 

A Beyblade Fic

By Sakin-chan

A/N: Thanks to my few reviewers, especially Sora Himura for reviewing every chapter for me. Don't worry, I'll keep writing this till the end. In the previous chapters, I have tried to put in Chinese names, and I'm not really good with those, so sorry if some of the names for the people of Ray's village, and Riku's boyfriend, Xiaou Ming, are inappropriate.

Disclaimer: No, already. I DO NOT OWN BEYBLADE.

Chapter 4: 'The Truth Will Set You Free…'

* * *

(A week after old Mori's death…)

[Knock, knock!]

Who could be bothering her this early in the morning? She dragged herself out of bed, and went downstairs.

"Can I help you? YAWN!"

Gaia opened the door to a man who looked like he was from out of town. She noticed his suit, and shrugged. She was curious, but not really afraid. This was a safe town to live in, and if she needed any help, HE would be there in a second. She allowed herself a little smile.

(She could depend on him, but she should also learn to fend for herself,) she thought, attempting to be realistic and not such a damsel in distress. (Rei wouldn't be around forever).

Oh well, at least she could dream.

(Ray…) she thought and sighed, beginning to drift off.

The man brought her painfully back down to earth.

"It's about your grandfather, miss."

Gaia felt a sharp stab in her guts. She tried not to think about what had happened with her grandpa. And trying NOT to think about him, made her think about him, obviously. She remembered the funeral that had happened a week ago, how Rei's parents had actually paid for the whole thing. That had been especially embarrassing, as it showed how weak and small they thought she was. It also made her temper boil, and she hung her head with shame, and meekly accepted their charity. Charity. Just the thought made her mouth taste sour. But then, she didn't have any money at all, so she had no right to complain. The funeral had taken place in the village, and quite a few people had attended. It hadn't been a fancy affair, and people had simply arrived and watched the coffin being lowered into the ground, and Mr. Yung had said a few words, and then they had all gone quickly back to her house for the food. Her grandpa now lay in the small cemetery behind the temple in the farthest part of the village. Gaia had been busy making food and preparing the house all morning for the guests attending the wake, and Riku had been helping her, as well as Mrs Kon. At the ceremony, she had remained stony and dry-eyed, much to everyone's surprise, including her own. Rei had even given her a few worried glances.

When she had gone to the temple to light a candle for her grandpa, however, she had cried. When she made sure she was all alone. Gaia wanted no one to see her tears. No one.

She had cried hard as she had lit the candle, and murmured a prayer. She had cried for her grandpa whom she was yelling at just a few days before, as she placed the little paper boat containing the candle and his favorite pipe in the stream, and let it go. She watched at it floated and bobbed calmly on the stream, the water a fiery orange from the sundown, and floated under the bridge and away from sight.

"Go in peace, Grandfather," she had whispered, tears running down her face. Afterwards, she had put on a brave face, and headed back to her empty house. She had found Rei sitting at her doorstep, much to her surprise, and waiting for her, and she'd taken a seat, trying to understand what had happened to her, to take in her grandpa's death. Ray sat still, saying nothing.

She was truly an orphan now. She had lost her grandpa, whom she had thought would stay with her forever. Gaia laughed at her own, ridiculous naïve view of the world, as she sat in that cold, cold yard. She had thought she was invulnerable, immortal. Now the thought of her own death constantly hovered in her mind.

"Ahem."

Gaia heard the man's voice, and crashed back into the present.

"About your grandfather, miss. I am from Ma Jin Loans, and I am here to tell you that, as you are the sole remaining Mori, this means that your grandfather's debt will fall to you when you are 18; when you are an adult." The man looked down at her smugly, and Gaia felt more than suspicious of him.

"What debt? What are you talking about? My grandpa never borrowed any money from anybody," she said, and frowned at the official.

"This paper signed here by the President Executive Accountant Officer says he did." And with a flourish he handed her a paper with a seal on it and two signatures at the bottom. This is what the paper said:

"I, President Executive Accountant Officer Ma Jin Shao, hereby declare that this Loan Company will loan ¥30,000 to Mr. Sen Mori, plus 5% interest. Mr. Mori agrees to pay back the full amount of 30,000 Yuan to Ma Jin Loans unless an act of God prevents it (e.g. Death), in which case it will fall to the relatives of Mr. Mori."

Gaia gasped. 30,000¥! Where could SHE get that kind of money? Because it was clearly up to her to pay it off.

"I'm sorry this came at such an inconvenient time, miss. Here's my card, and we can discuss this any time you want," he simpered at her, and she snatched his card from his hand, and, muttering under her breath, slammed the door shut.

That day, several others came flocking, like vultures after weak prey, to claim her grandpa owed them some money, but she had had to shoo them away with an apology. She had absolutely NO money, except for some change for bread and milk. Gaia was beginning to wonder whether her grandpa really HAD borrowed it. They had never gone without money before, so she had never asked him where he got it from. Gaia grimaced. As much as she hated to, she had to look through his belongings for… she swallowed a lump in her throat, disgusted with herself… for money.

* * *

Rei sat in his bedroom, thinking about the funeral. He sighed, and wondered how she had felt when she watched her grandpa being lowered into the ground. The day had been bad enough, in his opinion, without Lee having to show up.

-----------

(Saturday afternoon, day after Mori's death. The funeral…)

It was after the burial, during the wake. Rei had been ambling around, wearing a traditional black Chinese suit, and looking for Gaia. He saw Kai standing over in a corner by himself, also wearing black, and felt honored. He went over to his friend, and smiled at him.

"What're you so happy about?" Kai growled at his friend, by way of a greeting, and took a big bite out of a cake he had. Rei shook his head.

"Nothing. I'm… thanks, Kai."

The other boy looked surprised. Rei nodded at his clothes, and said:

"Thanks for being so nice to Gaia. And for honoring her grandpa. I really appreciate it."

He glanced at Tyson and Max, who weren't eating at all today, and saw how awkward they looked. He decided to go to their rescue. He gave Kai one last grin, and went off to his other friends. Kenny came up to Kai a little later on, and stared at him. He had a strange look on his face.

"Have you seen Mai Li?" he blurted, and Kai's eyes widened in surprise, and his face went a little red, before he could stop himself.

"Why should I care?" Kai spat, his icy self-control regained.

"Relax. I just wondered. I met her yesterday, you see, after Gaia's grandpa… passed away. When did you meet her, Kai?"

"Same time you did."

Kenny barely suppressed a smirk. Why was Kai lying? Kenny thought he had an idea. He couldn't stop himself.

"But you weren't there. I would've seen you. It was just Rei, Max, Tyson and me. You weren't there, Kai."

In a flash, Kai dragged him out of the room and into the hall.

"Listen, twerp," he said menacingly, letting go of Kenny when some people went past in the hall; "What I do, and where I go, and who I meet is NONE of your business. Don't piss me off. This funeral means a lot to Ray, and I don't wanna mess it up for him just 'cause some little bug wouldn't shut his trap. I mean it, Kenny."

Kai suddenly blinked, realizing he had said more than he should have said already, and stalked off to another room.

The younger boy shook his head and sighed.

(Kenny, you fool. You should have kept your mouth shut.)

-----------

Rei, Tyson and Max were observing the people who came and went inside the living room.

"Hey, Rei." Tyson said suddenly. Both the boys looked at him, wondering what Tyson would say.

"I'm sorry. About that whole donkey-cart thing. And about the old man, too, I guess." Tyson hung his head, blushing furiously.

"Hey, no sweat, I'm alright with it. We all make mistakes. And I think you should tell Gaia that, not me."

Rei looked at his friend, a smile playing in the corners of his lips.

"Why don't you get something to eat? The girls would get very angry if all this food went to waste."

As he watched Tyson and Max's faces brighten up at the mention of food, he felt a little sad about the fact that there would come a day when food would no longer matter to Tyson, or girls to Max.

(Ugh. Best not to get all morbid, now,) he thought, and ambled away.

Max poked Tyson. "I told you it would be fine. See?" he gloated at Tyson. Tyson grimaced. "Yeah. Phew!"

"Rei's a good guy."

"He sure is, Max."

"And his sister's HOT!"

"Nnghf mngh nrghmff!" Max turned and saw that his friend was digging into a droolworthy roasted lamb. He shook his head, and grinned.

(Tyson will always be Tyson,) he thought. What he said, was:

"Leave me some!"

-----------

Kai was walking outside the house, away from the stifling crowds of hungry, insensitive people who came here only for food. It disgusted him how shallow and cold people could be to each other, and then he suddenly smirked at his own irony. He was cold to people himself half the time.

Kai had the sudden feeling that someone was following him, and quickly turned around. His heart leaped into his mouth when he saw who it was.

"Mai?" he almost gasped. Almost. She looked fantastic in a black dress, and with her long hair tied up in a bun, though a few strands had escaped. It brought out her eyes, he noticed.

"You look like you've seen a ghost. Chill out, it's just me."

Kai felt anger surging up inside him. "I'm fine."

She put up her hands like he was holding a gun on her, and grinned. "Don't bite me," she said dryly, which annoyed him even more.

"Where'd you fall out of, anyway? You're always sneaking up on… people." Kai said in the nastiest voice he had.

"Ah, ah, ah!" she shook her hand, and mock-frowned at him; "You are the one who snuck up on ME last time, remember? The score's even now."

"Whatever," he yawned, and walked off. He heard her huffing behind him, and smiled. At last she was going where HE wanted her to go. He stopped when he felt her hand grabbing his shoulder, and slowly turned around.

"What?" he barked. She looked at him, frowning.

"You are SO rude," she stated. Kai fought hard to suppress a grin.

"So what's new?" he said gruffly.

Her face brightened suddenly, and she smiled; and Kai's stomach flipped, his expression softening without him even realizing it. Mai felt a sense of triumph, though WHY she felt like this, she did not know. She only knew she wanted to be with this interesting kid (alright, GUY), and figure him out.

"So…" she glanced at her feet, and then looked up at him;

"Wanna hang out with me?"

Kai simply stared at her.

Then, with a shrug and a shy smile, he agreed.

"Okay."

-----------

"Rei! Haven't seen you in a while!" Rei heard a voice cry, and cringed, hoping it wasn't Clarise. Luckily for him, it wasn't.

It was only Lee Hitoru [**A/N: I have not got the slightest clue what Lee's last name is, so I made up one that sounds remotely Chinese**], his old buddy and team-mate back when he was in the White Tigers. Except Rei wasn't very happy to see him at that precise moment.

Lee came and slapped his back, and grabbed his arm, shaking it heartily.

"It's good to see you, pal!" he said so earnestly, that Rei even felt guilty for hating him, and swallowed his jealousy.

"It's… good to see you too, Lee. Where has everyone in the White Tigers gone? Are Mariah and them alright?" he asked. Lee nodded, and said they were travelling abroad to see the world, and stuff. His face clouded slightly when Rei mentioned Mariah, and then it was gone. But Ray had noticed the disturbing dark that had moved over his old friend's face, and made a mental note to stay off the topic of Mariah with Lee.

"So… I heard you're getting married, Lee."

Rei regretted his words as soon as they left his tongue. He couldn't stop himself; he felt like strangling Hitoru where he stood. Lee gave him a puzzled look.

"Who told you that?"

"I overheard some old ladies sniggering about it in the market." Ray laughed uneasily. "You know, since you've become rich you're the talk of the town!"

He hoped that sounded believable. It did. Lee gave him another suspicious look, then his face became smooth, and he even smiled. It was all Rei could do not to sigh in relief.

"Yes, as a matter of fact." Lee glanced at his heavy, expensive Swatch, and sighed. "I am getting married. I was reluctant at first, but my father, you see, is getting old, so I thought I might as well obey the old coot."

Rei felt his stomach tightening into a knot of despair.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" he blurted, perhaps a little too fast. "I-I mean, do you even know her?"

"I've seen her, if that's what you mean. Oh, yeah. That girl is one hottie. Mm-hmm! Have you seen the legs on her? Like black gold, she is," Lee said, and laughed, apparently unaware of the agony he was causing his old friend.

Rei's guts felt like ICE, as he listened to Lee's thorough description of Gaia; it was definitely her, as Rei realized that the things that Lee was saying about her had gone through his own mind before. He felt his face burning in shame of the things he had been thinking, which sounded a lot worse when they were said out loud.

He hurriedly poured himself a cup of cold orange juice, and swallowed before he got a headache.

"And she's like-" Lee made a coke-bottle shape with his hands, and leered at the thought of her body, and Rei began to feel a slow rage boiling in his stomach. This… this FOOL was going to MARRY her?!

(There is no justice in this world,) Rei thought, and crushed the empty plastic cup in his hand.

"I think I'm gonna be the luckiest guy in the world on my wedding-night. I'll have her all by myself, and-"

"ENOUGH!" The room became suddenly silent, and Lee looked at him, shocked. Rei couldn't handle it any longer. His fingers were itching for something to destroy, and he was sure all the visitors could see his green face. He stalked off upstairs, leaving a stunned audience behind, who quickly went back to consuming the little remaining food.

Safely upstairs, he took a detour to the toilet, and climbed out of the window, and down the pipe, and landed on the ground on all four, catlike. He stood up, then went to find the little garden shed in Gaia's yard, and to go and destroy some pieces of old furniture, instead of killing Lee.

He took a chair, and smashed it to pieces, furious, shouting wordlessly. It made a satisfying crash, and Rei felt his rage abating, but not completely. He was so angry. How could this be happening?! He didn't have a chance, but Lee, Lee got him without even trying! He took another piece, and smashed it down on the remnants of the chair.

This was unfair! UNFAIR!

Rei had thrown it too hard, and felt sudden sharp pains in his fingertips. He gasped, and quickly let the piece of wood drop. His fingers were all bleeding because he had splinters gouged into them. Big, big splinters. The pain and the anger were both too overwhelming to bear, and he felt tears prickling the back of his eyes, as well as shame at himself. He had acted childishly, and now he was going to cry.

Did he WANT to ruin the wake, or what?

Lee was marrying Gaia. Rei let a small whimper escape his lips, and felt his pride cringing. There was nothing he could do about it. Love wasn't the only thing he needed. He also needed hands that were working, not hands that had holes in them, or inch-deep splinters.

He slowly got up, and, biting his lip, walked home.

-----------

Riku opened the door to a bleeding, miserable Rei. She gasped. What kind of trouble was he in now?

"Riku-chan." Her brother was practically in tears. Riku felt something in her stomach twist itself into a knot, and she took his arm, and pulled him inside.

(In her room…)

"What have you been up to this time?"

"Ow!"

"Has this got anything to do with Gaia?" Riku asked, and he looked at her with surprise. "Well, I mean come on, she's always part of the reason!"

Rei was giving her The Stare. She began to feel awkward, but Riku wasn't gonna let up.

"Remember, that time when you lost your bike? That was because you were so eager to show it to her you got nearly run over by Ayu's donkey."

"It was an accident." Rei growled, gritting his teeth because she was squeezing his fingers and it hurt like hell.

"Oh really?" she said, brutally squashing his fingers with her tweezers.

"OW!"

"What about the time when you went to town and came back with a broken leg? And Gary had to carry you back? And when her grandpa took you both fishing, and you got a cold because you had tried to catch catfish with your hands, and instead fell in the river?"

"An accident."

"The hell it was! I could name fifty other accidents you've been in because of her. I've been there to patch you up so you could have another accident time after time," Riku gasped for breath; she was getting worked up, "and you still haven't worked up the nerve to tell her!"

Rei looked down, and admitted that Riku-chan was right as usual. There was no point in asking how she knew; she had eyes as sharp as Kai's.

"I'm so stupid, Riku," he said, and sighed. "It's just…"

Riku tried to concentrate on pulling out the last splinter, feeling a lump in her throat. In fact, she concentrated so hard, that when she found it, she pulled it out too quickly.

"OWWW!" he screamed, and Riku quickly gave him a tight hug, and Ray put his head on her shoulder, trying desperately not to cry. It was terribly tempting.

"I'm so helpless." Rei said bitterly, "Anyone else would have either told her, or given up. But… I'm afraid of what she'll say. I don't want to tell her, only to find out that she doesn't care about me. I'm too scared to take that risk, Riku."

"It's okay. At least you'll know, Rei. After all this time, at least you'll know."

She suddenly began to cry, to his amazement; Riku nearly never cried! "Riku?" he asked, worried.

"What's wrong?" Riku shook her head, sat back and wiped her face.

"It's nothing. Nothing."

Rei looked at his little sister, and it hit him again how grown-up she was becoming. She smiled at him, and shrugged.

"I guess I was just feeling a little emotional."

Riku looked away, plainly hiding something from him. The real reason she was crying was that Tomonari, her boyfriend at the grocers', had tried to rape her last night. She had fought back, and broken up with him. She knew that if she told Rei or her Pa, they would both rip Tomonari to pieces; they would kill him where he stood. That was totally out of the question. She was a woman now, and she must not depend so much on her family to rescue her.

Besides, she had really taught him a lesson he wouldn't soon forget.

"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked one more time. Riku smiled at the worry in his tone. "I'm fine, brother. Really."

"You know you can tell me everything, Riku. I'm here for you."

"I know that, Rei."

(What was wrong with Gaia?) she silently wondered; (Rei was a great guy, and the best brother one could have!)

"I know you're a… big girl, and that you don't need your brother cramping your style," he said, and Riku giggled at his embarrassment; "But I hope you're not too grown up to need your family from time to time."

"Yeah, yeah!"

"I'm serious!"

"Hey, so am I!"

"Coulda fooled me."

"REI!"

Rei got up off her dresser where he had been sitting, and realized he had a lovely neon-blue stain on his butt. Nail-polish! Riku saw the stain, and fell about, laughing. He smiled, embarrassed.

"You know, that stain will never come off!"

Rei's eyes widened. "WHAT?! Ma's gonna kill me!"

"I'm just kidding!"

"RIKU!" he chased after his sister, waving the bottle at her, through the house.

-----------

"Honey, are you sure we did the right thing?" Ma said, leaning on the sink, hands soapy. She vaguely heard Rei and Riku screaming and crashing around the upstairs, and hoped they wouldn't hurt themselves.

"What other way was there?" her husband grunted, and went on reading the paper, or more precisely, the article about old Mori's death.

"Yes, but wouldn't it have been better if we told the child where we got the money?"

"Why bother the poor kid? Her gramps just died."

"I don't think she wanted anybody to pay for her, anyway, but accepting money from Hitoru was shameful. Couldn't you see the poor girl's face?" Ma was angry. "You know Mori-san HATED Hitoru, and especially when he asked for Gaia's hand for his son."

Pa glared up at her from his seat on the floor. "Yes, well, we should never have got involved. If you hadn't been so determined to go and clean up for them, then you would never have overheard-" he paused as his two children chased through the kitchen and out to the backyard. He sighed as they went out of earshot, and lowered his voice.

"Anyway, it's too late now."

"I suppose so. What's done is done." Ma sighed, and went back to cleaning the dishes in her black mourning dress.

* * *

(Back to the present, i.e. 1 week later, in Ray's house…)

-----------

"Hey, Rei!"

"Morning, sunshine."

"Look what the cat dragged in!"

"Ha-ha, very funny." Rei came out and sat on a stone in his vast yard, looking blearily at the other Bladebreakers training in a makeshift stone stadium. It was 10 in the morning, and he suspected they had let him oversleep because they were being nice. Kenny came over, and sat down next to him.

Kai stood between Max and Tyson, hand outstretched. "Three…" he said.

Max got ready and smirked at Tyson. "Get ready to eat dirt."

"Two…"

Tyson fixed his cap, and readied Dragoon. "We'll see about that, pal."

"ONE!"

"LET IT RIIIP!" they both cried simultaneously, and unleashed their blades. At once, earth began flying in all directions, and clashing sounds filled the air. They were really going at it!

"Go, boys!" Dizzy piped up. "WHOOO-HOOO!"

"Rei, you're up next with Kai." Kenny announced. Ray yawned widely, and sniffed, blinking. "Okay."

"Actually, I'm busy today." Kai said suddenly.

"WHAT?!?!"

Kenny and Rei nearly fell over. Kai not here for practice because he was BUSY?! The world was about to end. Rei was grinning, but Kenny was mortified.

"My, my. Now I've seen everything." Dizzy said dryly.

"Kai! It's not fair if you get to flake off!" Kenny protested. Rei looked at the pair, and chuckled. What could it be that made Kai NOT want to practice? It must be something VERY important. Max and Tyson came over to see what all the commotion was about.

"I think you're forgetting one important fact – I'm the team captain, so authority rests with me. I am going someplace important, so back off." Kai glared at Kenny, wondering just what his problem was lately. But the short one backed off, and Kai stalked off without a word.

"What happened there?" Max asked Rei, who shrugged. Kenny began typing furiously on his laptop, and Tyson looked confused. What was up with Kai? What could possibly be more important than PRACTICE?!

* * *

Kai walked down the street, buried deep in his thoughts. Or, more precisely, in his feelings for a certain healer. He knew that she made him feel… unusual. Different. Mai made him feel happy, and at the same time she made him mad. She was annoying, but fun to hang around with. He smiled. If he wasn't mistaken, then… he actually CARED about her. The exact thing he had promised himself he would never do. He had broken Kai's Golden Rule Number 1: Never Care About Anybody Else.

"Kai?" somebody said behind him, and he quickly turned around.

Speak of the devil. "Mai!"

She had several heavy carrierbags of food, and he quickly took them from her. "Whoa! Thanks. My back was killing me!" she said, and sat in the middle of the road, panting. Kai had to admit they were pretty heavy.

"What's in these? How come nobody was helping you?" he asked, and instantly regretted it when she said quietly: "I live… alone. I have no family. Must seem weird to a fella like you."

Kai thought about his grandpa, and sighed.

"Believe me. It doesn't seem weird to me at all."

He didn't meet her eyes when she gave him a sharp look. Mai stood up, and brushed the dust off herself, then gave him another warm smile. "Come on. Let's get going."

Finally they reached her home, a humble wooden affair next to an old, dry well, and the farthest from the village Kai had been yet. It had two floors, the upper floor consisting of one big bedroom, and the downstairs serving as kitchen, living room, and toilet. She had a small vegetable/fruit patch, and the rest of the yard melted into the forest. Her furniture was very simple, with two low tables for both floors, and mats for sitting on and sleeping on, a cabinet where she kept all her remedies, and screens for shade. And that was it.

As she led Kai to her home, she knew she would be in so much trouble if another Li from another part of the country came for a visit, and found him here. With her. But at that point, what mattered to her more was whether Kai liked her home. She went red, and began fiddling with her hair.

"What do you think? Do you… ? Is it… uh… alright?" she said, embarrassed. He went over to a little painting she had hung up on the wall, and pretended to study it. In truth, he enjoyed torturing her for once.

"I like it. It's really… homey."

He smiled at her, and put the goods on the low table. Mai smiled back, relieved, and began to remove the food inside the bags and put them in their proper place on the shelves. Mostly it was tinned food, and fruits, and vegetables, with the odd chocolate or two. She had bought no drinks.

When he asked why, she shrugged, saying she'd rather buy milk when it was fresh in the morning, and if she needed any drinks before that, then she had water, and the melons growing in her garden! She quickly produced two cups of tea, and handed one to him. It was all quiet outside.

"So… Kai. What would you have done if I had not dragged you here today, then? Anything interesting?" she said after a comfortable silence.

"Nothing much, really. Just a little practicing with my team, then unbounded boredom for everyone except Ray. He'd pop over to his queen."

Min sighed. "He's real sweet on her, isn't he?"

Kai laughed. "If you can call muttering about her in his sleep 'sweet'! I'd call it 'obsessed'."

"Each to his own," she said, and smirked at him, then sighed thoughtfully. She tapped the table three times with her index fingernail, as if emphasizing her point.

"Each to his own."

* * *

Rei was actually about to pop over to his 'queen' right this second. He had finally dragged up the courage to do what needed to be done. He would tell her the truth today.

"Gaia?" he shouted, jumping over the fence like he had done ever since he was tall enough. He went inside, and found her sitting in the kitchen, and poring over a newspaper.

"Oh, Rei! Hi!"

She sounded relieved to see him, and he felt pleased. He sat down next to her, and said "Hi."

Then he got right to the point.

"Gaia, there is something I need to tell you." Gaia saw he was serious, and wondered what could have happened. She pushed away the paper to give him his full attention.

"We're friends, right?" he asked, and she nodded.

This was getting strange.

"You would never hate me, right?" Gaia nodded again.

"Gaia, we've known each other for a long time, and…" he swallowed hard, feeling uncomfortable. This was a lot harder in real life than it appeared on TV.

"…And, I think; no, I know…" here he took her hands, and she felt her temperature rising, and her heart beating faster;

"Gaia, I want to tell you that… I love you."

Rei quickly squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the explosion… but it never came. Her hands were still in his. Slowly he opened his eyes, and gasped when he saw the tears running down her face. His stomach twisted into several knots. What had he done? Gaia was speechless. For that matter, she was breathless, too.

(Oh, my GOD,) she thought, her heart hammering wildly.

(This is… oh. Oh, no, no, noooo! He doesn't know I'm already taken. It's already decided. What should I do? He'll die if I tell him now!)

"What's wrong?" Rei asked her, worried. He was relieved he had finally told her, but he was afraid something would go wrong between them.

The atmosphere in that small kitchen was so tense, it was hard for them to breathe.

Gaia suddenly stood up, and ran upstairs, Rei following hard on her heels.

"Gaia, stop!"

She raced blindly through the hall, passing each room without stopping. Finally she turned around when she reached the balcony, a small platform built with railings into the back wall of the house. It was thirty feet into the air. There was nowhere else to run to.

Despair in her eyes, she watched Rei getting closer, until he suddenly took her arms, and pushed her against the rails. She gasped; he had never once used force on her before. She began struggling, and he kept telling her to slow down, to chill out and tell him what was wrong.

"I can't… I can't…" she said, trying to find a way to tell him as gently as possible; "Rei, I'm sorry, but… I'm already spoken for. Lee Hitoru is going to marry me soon." Gaia said, and looked down, hating herself.

"I know."

She looked up, and blinked, not understanding.

"I already know. He told me, but I knew of it from before."

Rei let her go, his hands accidentally stroking her arms as they released her, and backed off. He leaned on the rails next to her.

"Do you…" he cleared his throat; "Do you want… to marry him?"

Gaia shook her head hard. "NO."

"So, then… do you… is there anybody… in particular… you…?"

He spoke with great difficulty, and was very red. Gaia thought about it. Who was there in her life except him?

"No, I don't… no."

Suddenly, he pulled her close to him, real close, and she saw the fire in his eyes, and the pain there that had always seemed to be part of him, and felt suddenly strange. Her stomach felt weird, and her spine seemed to have gotten itself lost. Rei took her hand, and laced her fingers with his.

"Rei… what are you doing…?" she asked, her breathing labored. He looked at her face, amber eyes burning with wanting. His arm went around her waist, and Gaia was beginning to get scared of the way Rei was behaving with her, and the feelings running through her own body, her own soul.

"Don't ask me, Gaia. I… I don't know." he whispered, his lips brushing her ear. Her skin tingled, and she shivered, and closed her eyes. She felt like she was having a sensory overload. A soft sigh escaped her lips, and she blushed at herself.

Rei felt like he was on fire. Literally. He had to calm down, or he'd be ripping off her clothes next.

"Gaia," he sighed heavily, and pulled back to see her eyes. Two pools of darkness stared back up at him.

"I love you. I've always loved you, ever since you hit me that day your parents died. I've been too scared to admit it. Too afraid you would say you wanted no part of me. That would have killed me, Gaia. It would have killed me."

She knew she was crying, but she didn't give a damn. She was finally happy. Afraid, but very, very happy. She stood on tiptoe, and kissed him, a passionate, painful kiss that they had both been waiting for their entire lives. As their lips met, they both felt a sharp stab in their guts, and a tingling all over like they had been electrocuted. Rei ran his hands through her hair, and Gaia just savored the feeling that she was melting in his arms, the need to be as close as possible to each other. As they broke apart, she gasped that she loved him, she loved him, she loved him, and that she wanted nobody but him.

Rei was amazed, but mostly relieved at the way things had turned out, and hugged her, holding her as hard as possible because he knew he had to let her go when he went back home, and he didn't want to. They kissed, and just held each other all that day, and when it became sundown, Rei left her for his own home, though he felt that it was with her that he belonged.

As she waved him away from her door, Gaia smiled, blushing. Her life had suddenly taken a turn for the better. Rei actually loved her (she felt a shiver at that word), and with him around, she could easily tackle the world, and the 30,000¥. As they say, "no matter how deep the darkness, light shines within".

Rei walked backwards into his house, waving and grinning like an idiot, and feeling quite different. Lighter. Like a load had been lifted off him. He went through the door at the same time Kai was about to go out, and neither saw the other until they hit each other.

"Ow!"

"Watch it!"

Rei hit the ground, and looked at his captain, amazed. Something was different about him today. Kai straightened up, and then headed back inside without a word. Rei just watched him go; he didn't care about Kai's rudeness, he was much too busy with his head up in the clouds. He went inside, a wide grin plastered across his face. Oh, yeah!

(Gaia is finally mine!) he thought happily, smiling;

(And I will always be hers.)

* * *

A/N: What do you think? It's real long, I know. 36 pages! I finished playing Final Fantasy 10 today, so I was in a terribly soppy mood. God, the ending is so… so… there is no word beautiful enough to describe it. I was practically in tears today. Sigh. Anyway, R&R as per usual.

Gracias.


	5. Power of Goodbye

"There's just something about Gaia…" 

A Beyblade Fic

By Sakin-chan

A/N: This story happens between the first season of Beyblade and V-force. I've also changed MIN Li to MAI Li.

P.S.: Mai Li can understand Kai because in the Li family, girls are taught many languages so that they can heal people who are not Chinese, too. Mai, luckily, chose to learn Japanese and Korean. Yay! Good for Hiwatari!

Disclaimer: I wish. No, I do not own Beyblade, or the Neko-jin, or the Russian.

Chapter 5: 'Power of Goodbye'

* * *

(Last day of holidays, the boys are gathered in Rei's yard…)

-----------

"So…" Tyson said, and looked around at his friends, feeling a little sad.

This was going to be the last day they'd spend together this holiday, and then they would all go to their individual homes. Back in Tokyo, he would see Kenny a lot… he'd feel lucky if he caught a glimpse of Kai; the older boy wasn't inclined to socialize, not even with an old team-mate. There was no chance of seeing Rei OR Max again until maybe the next summer holidays, because (Tyson shuddered at the thought) there would be SCHOOL to go to, and HOMEWORK to do. Ugh.

But then, he had to acknowledge that one day he had to learn something other than beyblading. Someday… he had to put Dragoon away, grow up and start earning a living like the rest of the human race. It was inevitable. He sighed, suddenly aware that his life, no, TIME, was passing by too quickly. No wonder adults wanted to be young again.

Max felt like they were all playing a game of 'Chicken': they were waiting to see who would mention that this was the second-last day they would spend together as a team for a long time, maybe for good.

Max watched everyone, and everyone was watching everybody else. Kai was fiddling with Dranzer, and surprisingly not glaring at anyone… just looking. Rei was staring at the house next door, and occasionally grinning at something only he could see. Kenny was typing on the computer, and looking up, and then typing away again. Tyson wore a sad expression on his face, and Max noticed that he was gripping Dragoon, like he was afraid he would lose it somehow. He sighed; today, HE would have to be the 'Chicken'.

"Okay, since the rest of you are acting like you haven't noticed, it looks like I'm going to have to TELL you-"

"No need, Max; we all know." Kai interrupted.

Rei tore himself away from his daydream, and looked a little sad too.

"Oh… yeah. Right."

"Today's the last-" Kenny began, but Tyson didn't want to let him say it;

"-What say we go get some grub at Fong's, and afterwards we can… uh…"

"Practice." Kai stated gruffly. Everyone looked at him, then they started laughing. Kai allowed himself a small smile, and added:

"The LAST practice we'll have together."

The other boys were surprised – did Kai just say 'together'? – but didn't let it show, because that would just push him away from them, which was the last thing they wanted on such a day as today. Ray looked around and smiled.

"So what're we waiting for?"

* * *

(At Fong's, the Bladebreakers as usual can't decide what to get, and poor Rei has to go back and forth to the counter, as he's the only one who can speak Chinese…)

-----------

"Hey, Rei, tell him I want Mango, tell him I want Mango!"

[Sigh.] "Alright. Two Mangoes, and the rest Pineapple Surprise, right?"

"What's in the Pineapple Surprise, Rei?"

"I don't know. Probably pineapple and something else."

"Can't you ask him?"

"No, Kenny, that would be ruining the 'Surprise'."

"Change my order then."

"Sorry, no can do. It's already gone to Fong. If we change it now, he'll make us pay extra."

"Oh, stop whining, Kenny! Its not like he'll poison us, is it?"

[Looks of wonder all around]; (Would the owner really do that?)

"Is it?"

"Shut up, Tyson, don't put us off our drinks."

"ARGH! You are SO depressing, Kai, it's like having your own personal GRAVEYARD looming over your head!"

"You're the one talking about poison, not ME." [Smirks.] "Maybe you're getting paranoid in your old age."

"Well maybe YOU'RE-"

"STOP IT!" Rei smacks the table hard, and instantly regrets it.

The table is made of solid steel. He still continues, though;

"Are we supposed to spend the whole day listening to you two bickering? I swear, it's like you're an ancient old man and his wife. Get a grip. I've been coming here for YEARS. Why would Fong poison me now?"

Max nods his head vigorously, and Kenny still looks upset about his 'Surprise'.

"So can you guys just…" [Evil grin] "…kiss and make up?"

"WHAAAAAAT?!!!"

Kai looks faintly green, and Rei is laughing loudly.

"That's IT!" Tyson looks angry; he gets up, and points at Ray dramatically. "Rei; I challenge you…"

[Rei looks wary]

"…In a game of Rock, Paper and Scissors! If I lose, I pay for the drinks. If you lose, you apologize and pay for the drinks."

"Let's raise the stakes a bit. If YOU lose, then you have to say sorry to Kai, and…" Rei WAS going to say 'Do my chores for a week', but he remembered that he wasn't living in Tyson's house anymore.

"…And pay for the next round of drinks!"

"Rock, Paper… Scissors!" Both Rock.

"Rock, Paper… SCISSORS!" Tyson Paper, Ray Scissors. "YES!"

"Fine… the last round." Tyson swore, and his hand strayed to his pocket where he kept Dragoon.

(Give me some luck, old pal, or this will get real embarrassing for me.)

"ROCK,"

"…PAPER…"

"…SCISSORS!!!" They both got Scissors, but Max suddenly pushed in, and got Rock! He laughed at their downcast faces. "Nyahahahahaaa!"

"Aaaaw!"

"No fair, Maxie!"

"He-he, sorry fellas, but Rock beats Scissors EVERY time! And you both lost, so you both have to do what you wagered."

In the end, Rei and Tyson both paid for the drinks, and Tyson apologized to Kai, who looked surprised, and Rei apologized to Tyson just because he said he would.

* * *

(On the train to Hong Kong, early morning the next day…)

-----------

Gaia sat next to Rei on the train. She'd insisted on coming this time around, because she wanted to say goodbye to his friends too, and to thank them for coming to her grandpa's funeral. Right now, all of the boys were asleep except Kenny – although nobody could tell with Kai. Gaia glanced at him, noticing there was something missing from his expression, something that had been there since the funeral, a sort of… glow. Gaia thought hard; no wait, she had seen it BEFORE the funeral too.

Suddenly, her mind said to her 'Mai Li'. But… she and Kai had not met; at least, not to Gaia's knowledge. She puzzled over this. What did the Healer have to do with this? Vaguely she remembered that there had been somebody close to her that had died in the village a few years ago, but that had been while Gaia was away in Hong Kong for holiday with her friend Kiera, and no one had said anything about it afterwards. She shook her head; she would think about it sometime later, when she had nothing better to do.

She looked at the sleeping boys, and couldn't help but smile. Max and Tyson were leaning against each other, and Tyson's mouth was slightly open; he was snoring softly. Max was smiling, and Gaia wondered what it was he was dreaming about. Definitely something nice! She sighed heavily. And then there was Rei. If the last time was anything to go by, he was NOT coming back anytime soon. He had actually said that he would be gone for a while, but she didn't know whether 'a while' in Rei-speak meant a week, a month, or even a year. Gaia was hoping it would only be for a few hours. Since she was not going to the airport with them, which was a fair ride from Hong Kong Central, she would just come back with a train.

She turned to look at him, leaning back on the chair, and smiled.

The way the sun shone through the window, the light falling on his face; how his raven hair flopped down over his eyes, shadowing them; Gaia felt like she was intoxicated, as she committed his image to her memory for later reference. As if she didn't already know his every move by heart. She smiled, feeling something moving in her chest.

(This person… this boy… cares about me more than anyone has ever cared about me in my whole life,) she thought, and ran her fingers down his cheek and over his lips, feeling a warm thrill in her stomach. She leant forward to kiss him. Suddenly, she found herself looking into two burning, amber eyes, and she gasped, not expecting him to be awake. He smiled groggily.

"Go ahead; I'm not stopping you."

But she was shocked out of the moment, and sulked, pulling his ear. "Couldn't you just have PRETENDED to be asleep?" she asked, and pursed her lips. "I'm pretending now," he said, squinting at her and snoring so horribly that she had to smile.

"Yeah, well its too late Romeo!"

* * *

Kai wasn't asleep. He was very, very awake. He got up, sick of listening to Rei and Gaia's ridiculously soppy talk. It churned his stomach. Kai wasn't jealous, not really. He simply didn't want to begin thinking about… ah, best stay off the subject altogether. He sat down in an empty car, and stretched out on the double-seat, feeling bone-tired and angry. If he hadn't… oh, why think about it? Nothing he did would ever change the stone-cold truth. It was over.

He looked up at the scenery passing by, and sighed, feeling a series of small pangs in-between his stomach and chest. Inevitably, his thoughts turned to yesterday, after he returned from Fong's.

-----------

(Yesterday evening, on the outskirts of the village…)

-----------

(I really should tell her the truth,) Kai thought, walking toward Mai Li's house; (She deserves to know.)

But he really didn't want to. He wanted to fool himself for a little while that it was alright – that he wasn't going anywhere. He chuckled at himself. Kai Hiwatari, the Big Fish in the small pond, wanted to fool himself for a girl. But not just any girl; Mai Li. He repeated her name again, like a mantra he used for luck. It gave him such a nice buzz to think about her, and… he blushed as he remembered how, last night when he was saying goodbye, they had nearly kissed. Nearly.

"AAARGH!" he suddenly cried, pulling at his hair in frustration; "Why only NEARLY?!"

Wait; why did he care so much about whether she kissed him or not?

Hey, since when did he care?

Oh, who was he kidding; he really… really liked her. Kai sighed. So many questions he wanted the answers to, so little time.

As he came to the crossroads, he wondered which to take. South-west, back to the village? Or North-east to Mai's house? Mai, or back to his friends? The truth, or the lie?

He sighed.

It would have to be the truth.

* * *

Mai Li was sitting with her feet in the cold stream, taking a break from the continuous laundry-duty she was on. She'd been washing her clothes since early morning, and hanging them all over the place. Her first bucket-full had dried, and now she had hung up the second bucket-full. She looked mournfully at the remaining pile, and sighed. There was too much to finish off today. She lay back on the grass, feet still in the water, and sighed, basking in the sun. Her thoughts went straightaway to a certain boy with gray walls in his eyes, and a confident stride. He was ALL that was missing from this almost perfect evening. In fact, she could imagine him standing above her, smiling, saying…

"WHAT do you think you're doing?"

Mai Li gasped, and quickly sat up, pulling her skirt down to cover her thighs; she hadn't heard him coming. She was painfully aware that she had not brushed her hair this morning, but had just tied it back with an old scarf with several holes in it. Mai hoped that he wouldn't notice, or care. It was terribly embarrassing.

"If you please, could you warn me next time before you pop up like that?" she said, trying to look cool, calm and collected. Kai sat down next to her. "It's nice to see you, too." His tone was sarcastic. Mai punched his arm playfully, and he shoved her back. "What were you doing?"

She shrugged. "Laundry-duty. All day long. I still have a pile to do, but I'm gonna do all that tomorrow. It's too late for it to dry, and I don't want to leave them out at night. They might get stolen again."

"Again?" Kai looked surprised; it had happened BEFORE?

"Last time, while Ma Li was around, the best clothes in my wardrobe were stolen, along with some chicken, sheep and rice." Mai saw the look on his face, and chuckled. "People are poor, Kai. They need to eat. Sometimes, they can be so desperate that they stoop to steal clothes from others to try and sell it on. The little they get can provide food for their families, until they need more, and then go to steal again for more money – it's a vicious circle."

She sighed, and shook her head.

"Ah, money. The Greatest Evil; apart from humans, of course. I imagine the ones who do it probably don't feel too happy about it, but… well, that's the way the cookie crumbles."

She smiled at Kai, who felt something in his stomach plummeting all the way down to Hades: never again would she smile like that at him. Because he wasn't going to be here.

"Hey, don't let me get all philosophical on you! If I start, I can ramble on for weeks."

She got up, and pulled him up, both her arms around one of his.

"How'd you find your way here, anyway?"

"I remembered. That's not important." He put his other hand on her hands, and looked into her eyes, serious.

"Mai, I have to tell you something." Her heart began hammering with anticipation; what could he want to tell her, that was so important? She tried not to think of the different possibilities, but couldn't stop a small smile lighting up her face.

When he saw her face, Kai swallowed hard. God, she thought he was going to give her some good news! The prospect of telling her he was going to vamoose shortly became a lot more intimidating now. What would he say? How could he break it to her?

"I… uh… I'm… leaving. It's the end of the holiday, and we're flying out tomorrow. I'm sorry." He looked at his feet, avoiding her eyes.

"…What?" she asked, feeling like she had been thrown off the highest clouds to the core of the planet. "When? Why?"

"I have to go home. I don't really want to, but I have to go. School." Kai thought about the big empty house back in Tokyo, and his grandpa.

"I really don't want to go. I'd rather stay here," he looked at her to emphasize his point,

"…With you."

Mai felt a jolt in-between her stomach and heart.

(With me,) she thought, (He'd rather stay with ME.)

"Do you have to go?"

"Can't you stay for just a little longer?"

"No."

She looked at him, noticing that he was just a little bit taller than her, so that she had to tilt her head and look up at him if she wanted to meet his eyes. Mai suddenly felt a little dizzy… the way his eyes just BURNED into her consciousness… She quickly sat down, and patted the earth next to her. Kai followed suit.

"So… today is the last day we get together, right?"

He smiled, and nodded. "What do you wanna do?"

Mai thought about it. "Tell me about yourself, Kai."

"Tell you about… what would you want to know about me?" He looked genuinely surprised. Min took his right hand, and played 'One Little Piggy' with his fingers. After a while, she looked up at him. "Everything."

So he told her. About how he grew up in his grandpa's 'care' in Moscow, and lived in Bolkov Abbey; about the inhuman experiments his grandfather used to perform on animals, to draw out their spirits from their bodies, making artificial Bitbeasts. And he told her about how Voltaire used him to get at his friends' bitbeasts, but then Max showed him that it was wrong. He told her everything he could remember about himself, and after he finished, he felt exhausted… and relieved. At least SOMEBODY really knew everything about him.

Well… more than most. He would never try to give away his darkest, most shameful secrets, not to anyone. They were his to hide until death.

Mai looked at him, for once lost for words. She was amazed. How could anyone have gone through all that, and still be so… strong? Min saw him in a totally different light, now. He wasn't just interesting, or surprisingly kind to her (considering the fact that he was terribly rude to people); he was brave, strong, and human. Mai smiled to herself. Kai had a definite weakness for power, and he WAS a compulsive perfectionist… but he was human, and thank GOD it wasn't anything worse. Mai had her own faults, too. For instance, she took things way too hard, and she didn't forgive or forget easily, if at all.

"Do you want to see Dranzer?" he asked her, and she smiled eagerly. "Sure!"

"Okay; stand back." Kai tried hard to send a message to Dranzer;

(If you're listening, please come out… let me show her.)

He launched his blade, and stared at it hard.

"That's a Beyblade?" she asked, amused.

"Dranzer!" Kai suddenly cried, and Mai gasped, astonished. A blinding red light shot out of the small blade, and flew up into the sky out of view. "W-what was that?!" she asked, quickly placing herself behind Kai. He turned around. "You saw that?" Mai nodded. He put an arm around her waist, and pulled her in front of him. "That… was Dranzer."

"EEEEEEYYYAAAAAAAAHHH!!!" A loud, frightening cry rang through the forest where Mai lived, and she felt her fear building up into panic. But Kai still held her close, and now he whispered in her ear:

"Don't be afraid. He won't hurt you. I promise."

The sound of his voice so close to her ear gave Mai the shivers. If he said that Dranzer wouldn't hurt her, then she believed him. She would trust him with her life. She didn't know when she had decided this, but she had a strong feeling that she would.

A gust of wind appeared out of nowhere, and Mai shut her eyes, and fought to keep her skirt from flying up Marilyn Monroe style. Soon, another gust of wind followed, and another, until it seemed to her that she was in the middle of a storm. And then it stopped. Mai looked up from where she had buried her face in Kai's chest, and looked at the clearing. She saw nothing! Mai blinked, wondering if she was hallucinating the whole thing. A basket dangling from a nearby tree told her she wasn't. But then… why couldn't she see anything?

"I can't see it."

"That's because you don't believe in him." Kai said matter-of-factly. She gave him a confused look. "I don't BELIEVE in him?"

"Yeah. To see him, you have to believe him. Don't think he's there – KNOW he's there. Ask him to show himself, and keep an open mind. Just… make sure you try to believe." He turned her around again, his arms still around her middle. Mai wondered how one could know one believed? She shook her head, trying to push away such thoughts.

(Dranzer, I know you're there. Let me see you, please. I'm not sure if I believe you exist, but I would like to see you,) she thought, squeezing her eyes shut and hoping with all her heart that she would see it – whatever 'it' was – when she opened them again.

Slowly she opened her eyes, and blinked. She looked up – and screamed! Right in front of her stood the BIGGEST bird she had ever seen in her entire life! It was sitting on its claws, but still towered above her at least 10 feet. Mai felt slightly faint. Either she had finally snapped, or this was really Dranzer! How could something SO BIG fit into something as small as a beyblade? She decided she didn't want to know.

Kai was happy. Mai could actually SEE Dranzer! Though she didn't seem too pleased about it; but that didn't matter, she would soon change her mind. What mattered was that she was able to see him.

"Hey, Mai; go pat his beak. Say hello!" Kai pushed her forwards. But she wheeled round and clung to him, shaking her head. "Noooo…"

"Come on; now you're just being stupid. He won't bite." That annoyed her. She'd show him she wasn't scared! After all, it was just a big, flaming phoenix-eagle-thing. Nothing to be scared about there, he-he!

Mai Li walked forward carefully, and extended a shaking hand towards Dranzer. It took a step forward, and flapped its wings, and hot air billowed around her. She felt terribly small compared to him, and looked back at Kai, who nodded reassuringly. She turned to Dranzer, and bowed, muttering a small "Hello." To her shock, it leant down, placing its beak at eye-level with Mai, who took a hasty step back. Dranzer cocked its head, and gave her a beady stare, like it knew what she was thinking.

("Do not be afraid,") she heard suddenly in her mind; ("I do not bite.") Mai frowned. Dranzer had the exact same mocking tone as Kai sometimes did in his voice, but he sounded almost… gentle. Mai stretched her hand forwards, no longer afraid. She expected her skin to fry off when she touched him, but his beak was solid, and cool. Not burning hot, but cool. Mai smiled, relieved. She could get used to this.

* * *

(Sometime later…)

-----------

"Oh, Kai, please don't go!" It was late evening, and the sun was going down. Kai had been trying to go for the last hour, but Mai had always managed to get him to stay for just a little longer. But now he really had to go. "I'm sorry, Mai. I wish I could stay."

She shook her head. "No; if you go, I'll never see you again. Never."

"I… what do you want me to say?" he asked her miserably. Kai felt like he was being torn apart inside-out. Mai felt much the same way. He came up to her, and cupped her face in his hands, and memorized her image, as if it wasn't already burnt into his brain.

"Mai… you don't know… how much I'm going to miss you…"

"More than you can ever say." She stared into his eyes, and saw that the wall had momentarily crumbled. "I'm going to miss you too, Hiwatari." She pulled him closer, and their noses almost touched.

"Do you care about me, Kai? Do you really care?"

He blinked. Did he CARE about her?

"…Yes. I do."

She smiled, watching the last of The Great Wall in his eyes fall down and vanish. "Then you won't mind…" she whispered, and kissed him. Kai felt like he had been hit with several bolts of lightning, and he gasped, eyes wide. Mai pulled him closer, pressing her body against him, kissing him hard. She remembered Han, and felt a little guilt washing over her, but quickly forgot about it when Kai put his arms around her, touching the small of her back. They broke apart, both heaving a mutual sigh. Kai was really, REALLY regretting having to go home now. He looked at her, and hugged her tight, then let her go. He hastily kissed her, and began walking away. He hadn't taken four steps when he heard her calling him back. "Kai." He kept on walking.

"Kai! Wait!"

(Don't look back, don't look back, don't look back,) he thought, trying to block out the sound of her voice.

"KAI! Stop it! Don't pretend you can't hear me!" she shouted, angry. Min quickly began walking after him. Kai was several feet away.

"Kai! Listen to me, Kai!" Kai bit his tongue; it was so tempting to answer her, to say something back to stop her pain. To look back.

(Don't look back, Kai. Don't look back.)

"Kai, please stop!" She sounded out of breath, pained. It hurt him so much to do this, but if he turned around now, he would open his mouth and hurt her even more. So he walked straight ahead.

Soon he came to the crossroads. Four different paths, four different destinations. Southwest led back to Ray's, and away from Mai. Northeast was where he had come from. Who knew where southeast and northwest led to? He was about to take the path southwest when he heard a voice behind him. "Kai." He flinched, and swore silently. Mai was really making this more difficult than it already was. He didn't turn around.

"Kai, why are you running away?"

"I'm not running away."

"You are. If you won't stay, then at least say goodbye."

"I…"

"Kai. You're the best thing that's happened to me since… since Han died. And you're not even staying." She laughed, but there was no humor in her laughter. "Someone, somewhere has got to have something against me."

"Mai… I'm sorry."

"No, Kai. I'm sorry." She sounded so hurt, so terribly bitter that Kai could barely stop himself from turning around. He closed his eyes, and slowly began to head for the village.

"Kai, you bastard! I love you!"

Kai gasped, feeling like somebody had punched his stomach. His heart definitely skipped a beat or three, as his mind tried to digest what Min Li had said to him. Kai fought to stay standing; his legs were threatening to buckle under him. He finally turned around, his eyes blurring.

"…What did you say?"

"I love you, okay? …I love you." Her eyes were brimming with tears that streamed down her face. She looked downright miserable. Kai came over to her, and shook her hard. "You don't mean that."

"I do."

"You don't love me. It's not possible."

He was in total denial. Mai broke down. "WHY?!" she sobbed, beating his chest; "Why is it impossible?! Goddamn you, Hiwatari, I just said I love you! Get it into your stubborn skull! I love you!"

Mai was practically gasping for breath, and Kai held her tight, tasting the salt of his own tears in his mouth. Slowly, Kai removed her hold on him, until she stood alone. He apologized to her again, and gave her a short kiss. Something occurred to him, and he took off his white scarf, and tied it around her neck, just the way he wore it.

"It's all I can give you. I'm so sorry, Mai. And, little though it means now, I think I love you too."

With those last words, he disappeared down the path to the village.

"Kai!" Mai shouted, loud enough to wake the dead, "KAAAAI!"

It was over.

She fell to her knees and sobbed into his white scarf, feeling broken. Oh, why did he have to leave? Why did she have to fall for him? Why?!

"Kai, you bastard! Bastard!" she swore, and punched the earth, tired of always feeling pain. She sat back, and rocked herself backwards and forwards, muttering to herself. If anybody had seen her sitting like that in the middle of the crossroads, they'd think she had lost her mind.

And Mai felt dangerously close to it. She could still taste his kiss, feel his warm body against her own, smelt him in the scarf he had given her. She recalled the last thing he said to her.

'"Little though it means now, I think I love you, too."'

Mai stood up, heaving a sigh that should have belonged to a fifty-year old woman instead of a seventeen-year old girl. Then she took the path back to her home, the opposite of the one that Kai had taken from the crossroads.

(Come back, Kai. Don't leave me here…)

* * *

(Back to the present, in the train…)

-----------

Kai felt tears gathering in his eyes, and turned to lie down on his stomach. His friends had been curious about where his scarf had gone, but hadn't asked, because he had been in a thundering mood. He silently cried, as Mai repeatedly came to his mind. It was so UNFAIR! For once in his life, he had found real happiness, real love; but it was all taken away in a split second. Oh, god, it was unfair, it was unfair! Why him? Why Mai? The image of the beautiful Chinese girl hovered before his eyes, and Kai couldn't shake it off, make it go away. What was he going to do now? It hurt him so much, right inside. He had let her get too close. Now he felt like someone had tried to gut him with a blunt fork. It really hurt him.

"Right inside," he whispered to himself, tasting salt.

"Goddamn it, Mai."

* * *

A/N: And the tragedy continues, spinning along its predetermined path, nearing its end, inevitably… no one can fight fate.


	6. Blood In The Sink

There's Just Something About Gaia

A Beyblade Fic

By Sakin 

A/N: Revised, rewritten and re-mastered.

Disclaimer: Beyblade does not belong to me in any shape or form.

Chapter 6: 'Blood in the Sink'

* * *

(In Hong Kong Central, at the bus-stop for the buses to the airport, late evening around 5pm)

-----------

"Call me when you get there, okay? I'll be at Keira's."

"Don't worry about it, I'll call."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

Gaia was saying a reluctant goodbye to Rei and the others at the bus-stop, and trying to get him to remember to call. She turned to the others, smiling.

"Thank you guys so much for attending grandpa's funeral. I really… really appreciate it."

She took each of their hands in turn, and shook them. Tyson looked abashed, and Max was blushing, making her think (How sweet!); Kenny was surprised, and Kai had a pained look on his face. Gaia frowned, once again regretting that she had walked in on him crying in the empty car on the train this afternoon. She felt a twinge of guilt, but Rei, happily unaware of what had passed between his best friend and his girlfriend, pulled her away to a more secluded area.

Rei kissed her, bringing all the same, strange feelings back to life again. He held her close for a long time, and Gaia never moved, never uttered a word. She tried to stay close to him like this forever, to never let go… but the real world rushed in mercilessly as Tyson shouted that the bus had arrived.

"This is it, then."

Gaia sighed.

"This is it."

She moved closer, and kissed him again, bitterly, because she knew she would not see him for a while yet. "I love you," she breathed,

"Don't take too long, Rei. I will miss you."

His eyes blurred a little, as he tried to find a way to say goodbye without causing her to cry.

"I'll only be gone for a little while. Honest. And if you stay with Keira, I'll be able to call you everyday." He grinned at her, imagining her annoyance at Gaia using the phone day and night.

"I love you, too." Rei said tenderly, then ran his hand through her hair, kissed her cheek (she blushed), and ran away for the bus.

Gaia came after him, and watched as his friends elbowed him and winked suggestively, to his embarrassment. She waved as the bus rolled out of the station, and sighed, feeling a little empty.

She went and sat in the café, having called Kiera and asked if she could stay over for a week or so, waiting for her friend to pick her up in the old, crappy blue Audi she owned.

When the red-head arrived, she looked as stunning as usual, and greeted Gaia with a hug and enthusiastic kiss.

"How's it been?" Keira asked, green eyes sparkling with life. In comparison, Gaia felt veritably dull; but she knew that she had a gleam in her eyes too, as she smirked mysteriously at Kiera.

"What have you been up to?" her friend asked her.

"Keira, have I got a story to tell you!" Gaia exclaimed, all beams of smug happiness;

"I have just had the best few weeks of my life! But…"

Keira looked excited.

"…I'll tell you when we get home."

"Gaia!"

* * *

(At Hong Kong General Airport, boys are sitting in the terminal, waiting for the plane…)

-----------

"Okay, who ate my Mars-bar? Come on, 'fess up, Ty."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Max had opened his satchel and found, to his horror, that all his Mars-bars had been eaten! Since Kai nor Rei would go in somebody else's bags, and Kenny was too busy on his laptop, there remained only one suspect.

"Hey, Max, isn't your plane leaving in ten?" Rei said, looking at him with one sleepy eye.

Max looked at his watch, and gasped. "Why didn't you tell me before?!" he quickly grabbed his satchel, and ran off to the depot.

Two minutes later, he came back, angry.

"Hey, Rei?"

"Yeah?"

"TAKE THIS!"

Rei yelped at the sudden cold. Max had poured freezing bottled water down the back of his shirt, and was laughing at the neko-jin's expression of horror.

"Nyahahahahaaa!"

"Take care, Maxie."

"Yeah, don't get lost in the plane!"

"And no sugar."

Max was glad that they had all come to see him off, considering that this might be the last time they would see each other for a long time. He looked at Kai, waiting for the older boy to say something to him.

But Kai was strangely silent, even more than usual.

"Kai? No good-bye's for an old pal?"

"I…" Kai looked like he had great trouble coming up with something to say to Max. "…Goodbye, Max," and then he swept off, a sweeping that was far less impressive without his white scarf.

The boys looked at each other, worried.

"His grandpa isn't around by any chance, is he?" Max asked them.

"Nah… there's something else." Tyson shook his head. "I mean, when I tried to annoy him today he just… SIGHED… like he was tired."

"And I've noticed that our big strong leader is not so big any more. His RPM yesterday, when we were training, was just plain awful." Kenny added.

"And he's getting smaller… sort of disappearing, day-by-day. No, this is getting serious, guys," Rei looked around at the others; "We've got to confront the Master Of Confrontation about this. We can't let the guy do this to himself."

"My guess is that this has got something to do with…" Kenny was reluctant. Max, Tyson and Rei were all completely mystified.

"With… and don't tell him I said this, but… err… you know Mai Li?"

"The Healer?" Rei asked, unbelieving.

Kenny gave him a grave look.

"I think she may have done MORE than healing for him."

* * *

Kai looked at his face in the mirror inside the toilets.

It looked empty, the wall in his mind doubly fortified.

He would never let anybody get close again.

He would never let anybody get so far under his skin.

There was blood in the dirty, chipped sink inside the toilets.

He didn't know if it was his or not.

He didn't much care either.

He loved Mai Li.

He would never see her again.

And he would never love another as he loved her.

Kai saw her image as if it was carved into the mirror, and he slowly reached out for it. Illusion or not, he was desperate.

The image disappeared like smoke, and Kai was thrown back into harsh reality again, this time without the rose-tinted glasses he'd been wearing all holiday.

Suddenly, anger flared through him, and he punched the mirror, shattering it into a thousand pieces.

He quickly washed his cut, bleeding hands, and got out.

At least he could not see his eyes anymore, see his misery reflected back at him again and again and again and again and again…

At least…

(Oh, what's the point?) he thought, tired.

(It's all over.)

* * *

Rei, Kai, Tyson and Kenny were on the plane to Tokyo. Tyson was guzzling air-plane food, Kenny was, as ever, on his computer, Kai was genuinely asleep, and Ray was watching TV with earphones on. Occasionally the three boys gave each other uneasy glances, and then went back to what they were doing.

"Uh… no… noooo…"

Kai began to moan in his sleep, and Tyson looked at him, alarmed. The others were too busy to notice, but as he watched, a pained look came on his face, and he turned, gripping the seat.

"…Can't… can't look… back… so sorry…" Kai mumbled, sweat breaking out on his forehead. Tyson began to feel very worried about Kai, who, until now, had never uttered a word in his sleep, or even turned.

"…Mai-" he gasped, then suddenly went quiet. His face became blank again, as it used to be when he slept, and Tyson exhaled, relieved. He knew how embarrassed the older boy would be if he knew that Tyson had noticed. And Kai HATED being embarrassed. But what had made Kai lose control like that? And what did it all have to do with Mai?

Tyson could only think of one thing.

It seemed terribly un-Kai-like, but it was the only thing that made it all make sense. The inexplicable cheerfulness, the lack of Kai's famous frown, the misery he appeared to be in now, and the emaciated look he always wore these days. Tyson had to fight to keep himself from laughing hysterically.

Kai was in love!

* * *

"Kai, are you okay?"

"We're worried."

"You look half-dead."

"Make that three-quarters."

Tyson, Kenny and Rei were ganging up on Kai in Tyson's living-room. They had blocked the entrance, and refused to let him go. Kai had simply gone back and turned on the TV, and plonked down on the sizeable couch.

All three now blocked the TV from sight, and Kai just gave them a weary glance, and turned away. Rei went and sat next to him, and Tyson sat on the other side.

"Tell us what's wrong, buddy." Rei said, a little nervous about his friends' discomfort. Kai barely even looked at him.

"We're here for ya," Tyson added, and patted his arm.

Kai stared at the middle distance, somewhere above all their heads.

"I'm… fine… I'm fine. There is nothing wrong." He stared defiantly at the spot in the distance, not meeting anyone's eyes.

Rei exploded.

"OH, COME ON! You can't possibly think that we're going to believe THAT?! Kai, tell us what's wrong. Can't you see we're worried about you?!" he spat at Kai, whose face remained a blank.

"Or are you so busy feeling SAD and SORRY for yourself that you cannot see beyond the tip of your nose?"

"WHAT WOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT IT?!!! WHAT WOULD ANY OF YOU KNOW ABOUT IT?!!" Kai shouted, angry now. Both of them were getting worked up over all of this, and Tyson and Kenny stood by, and watched them at it. Rei narrowed his eyes and said dangerously: "Well if you told us what it was, and let us help, maybe we wouldn't be so clueless as you say."

Kai blinked hard, and a muscle in his jaw twitched.

Ray sighed. "None of us can help you if you keep it all inside, Kai. You have to let us in-"

"NO! NEVER AGAIN, EVER!!!"

And he stormed out, leaving them all stunned.

* * *

As Kai ran out of the living room, he prayed no one would see him like this. God, he had almost let it all slip!

(Damn you, Rei, and all your soft talk!) he thought angrily; (Bloody idiot always finds the sore spot. Gets to me…)

He went into the bathroom, and quickly got into the shower.

He was in there so long he couldn't tell the difference between his tears and the water from the showerhead.

Good. That was the way he wanted it.

Better to keep it all inside rather than letting yourself break down in front of a nosy-parker Neko-jin.

* * *

"Gaia?"

"Hey, Rei! How are ya? I didn't think you were going to call!"

"Sorry. Got a little caught up in something over here."

"Hmph. I hope that something isn't a 'she'."

"WHAT?! No! Wait…"

"What?"

"Are you jealous?!"

"No way! What do you take me for?"

"Sure, sure, whatever you say, Gaia. Look, you know Kai, right?"

"Yes… why? Is he alright?"

"Err… not really. He… uh… he's not feeling too good."

"No kidding, I saw him-"

"What, when?"

"N-Never mind. I… just forget about it."

"No, honestly, what did you see?"

"Uh… I really hope he won't kill me for it, but… I – promise me you won't mention it to anyone?"

"Gaia, you-"

"PROMISE."

"…I promise."

"Well, I sort of saw him on the train, last week when we were all coming to Hong Kong, and he was in this empty car by himself. I saw him in there and I went further inside thinking: "Jeez, me and Rei didn't make THAT much noise", when he turns around, and his face is kinda red, and I think he was…"

"Yeah?"

"I think he… was, err… I can't… oh, well, I think he was… crying."

"…You know what, Gaia? I'm gonna call you back later, okay?"

"O-kay… and don't tell him I told you! Or I won't ever speak to you again!"

"Don't worry about it!"

Rei hung up, and stared at the wall, confused. Kai was getting so emotional that he was crying in the train, he wasn't taking care of himself, his RPM was getting low, Kenny thought he heard him mentioning Min Li, and his white scarf was gone. All these clues, and no possibilities. Well, actually, he COULD think of ONE… but it seemed so unlikely… so un-Kai-like that Rei had a hard time believing it.

Or maybe he just didn't want to think about that.

* * *

Gaia replaced the phone, angry with herself. Why couldn't she have kept it to herself? She remembered how Kai had grabbed her arm, and made her swear that she would tell no living soul EVER, about what she had seen.

She went into the toilet, feeling like a total hypocrite, when she began coughing. (BRRR,) she thought to herself, shivering, (It's COLD in here.)

She coughed again. And again. It felt like her throat was on fire. She doubled over the sink, shaking helplessly as each new coughing fit seemed to rack through her body, and make it so hard to breathe.

Gaia watched in horror as the sink suddenly turned a bright, garish red, and realized she had been coughing up blood. Her blood, in the sink.

She looked at the mirror, frightened, wondering what was wrong with her, watching a trickle of blood dripping down her chin and onto her white shirt, making a round stain like she had been shot.

Gaia shuddered. She felt suddenly like she had seen a premonition of her death, of how she would die, then told herself she was being silly.

"I'M HOOOOOOOOOOOME! GAIAAAAA!"

Gaia started at the sound of Keira coming in, and quickly washed her mouth and threw away her shirt, changing. She quickly came back, and before her friend noticed, washed away the blood in the sink.

* * *

AN: Sorry ever so much if the chapter is a little too short or too late.

I hate Chem., Physics, and Math. =X-X=!

N.E-ways, I will update soon!

Thanks to the folk who have reviewed for me. I wish you guys would be more criticizing, you know. I don't think anyone noticed that I've suddenly changed Keira to Kiera. An accident, most definitely so.


	7. No Holding Back

"There's just something about Gaia…" 

A Beyblade Fic

By Sakin

A/N1: I've changed ONE sentence of the story. I just couldn't leave it alone, it was eating my brain. Actually, I have added in a whole new scene, just to make things interesting.

A/N2: Revised, rewritten and re-mastered.

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade, or the Neko-jin, or the russian, or the hospitals in Tokyo and Hong Kong, but the plot, Min Li, Riku (Which is spelt Riku with only ONE 'k') Keira and GAIA are all mine!

Chapter 7: 'No Holding Back'

* * *

(In Hong Kong, Keira's apartment, early morning, two weeks after Ray and Co have left…)

-----------

"How long has this been going on?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't lie to me, Gaia. I saw you. I saw what you were doing in there."

"I wasn't doing anything!"

The two girls were in Gaia's room, and Keira was looking down at her while she was sitting up in her ruffled bed, having had no time to straighten it before Keira had come rushing into her room. Now Gaia's cheeks burned with shame.

"How could you?! Would you have continued to hide it if I hadn't found out?! Would you have lied to me… to Rei?!"

"NO! No… I swear it's not what it looks like!"

"Haven't heard that one before."

"Keira! Keira, please… please don't tell Rei. Please…"

"And why not?"

"Because he'll take it all the wrong way… and I don't want to hurt him. Please!"

Keira looked at her old friend.

"Fine. But if you don't do as I say, then…"

Gaia gasped. "Are you BLACKMAILING me?!"

"Looks like it."

* * *

(Earlier this morning…)

-----------

Gaia had woken up a little earlier this morning, and was standing in front of the mirror, feeling a little cold.

That's when it began again.

The coughing.

By the time Keira had come in, woken up by all the racket, she found a bleeding Gaia on her bed having some sort of coughing fit. There was blood all over the place, and Keira had helped her friend up, both of them scared of what was happening to them.

"How long has this been going on?" Keira had said, shouting.

And Gaia had meekly taken the berating, knowing that it was all a disguise to cover up that she was worried about her.

* * *

(Present…)

-----------

"I have to take you to the hospital."

"NO!" Gaia stood up quickly, but then she felt suddenly dizzy, and fell back on her bed, her head spinning painfully.

"What's wrong?" Keira was instantly by her side, but Gaia waved her away, assuring her she was alright.

Keira nevertheless called for an ambulance, and when Gaia tried to make her stop, she was seized by another coughing-fit, and she quickly abandoned the phone to help the other girl.

Shortly the ambulance arrived, and Gaia was taken aboard, no matter how loudly she shouted that she didn't want to go.

* * *

(Tokyo, Tyson's grandpa's house/dojo…)

-----------

"Hey, Kai, my man! There's a little mama on the ring-a-ding for ya, says its pretty darn ur-gent!" Tyson's grandpa announced in his strange way.

Kai looked up, wondering who the hell would call HIM. He got up, and slowly went over to the phone. His heart was skipping beats all the while.

"Yeah?"

"Um, is that Kai Hiwatari?"

(It's not her.) "Yeah, what is it?"

"There's a girl here in Chiang Fu Memorial Hospital, Hong Kong, that has been admitted into the Casualty-Unit, and she has named you as her closest living relative. You are in Tokyo right now, yes?"

"Yes, but who is she?" (Please don't let it be her, please…)

"I'm sorry. She didn't say. She just told me to tell you that she needed to see you ASAP, 'no matter what Voltaire said'. Anyway, when is the soonest you can get here? How old are you?"

"I'm 17. I'll try to get there as soon as I can."

The nurse sounded relieved. "Well, I'll write a note to the receptionist, and all you have to do is show up and tell her your name, okay?"

"Yeah, okay. Uh, thanks."

"You're welcome."

Kai looked at the floor, and frowned. He ran his hand through his hair, and sighed. Who could possibly want him that was in Hong Kong? Who, other than Mai Li?

* * *

(Chiang Fu Memorial, Hong Kong, late evening two days later…)

-----------

"What's wrong with me, doctor?"

Gaia had undergone lots of tests and needles, and had been up and down the ward all day. Now the doctor stood in front of her, studying what looked like an X-ray and hmm-ing importantly.

"Doctor?"

The doctor glanced at her, and sighed.

"There's a cystic buildup of defective cell tissue near the middle of your spine, i.e. the area inside and around your liver and small intestine."

Gaia blinked.

"What it means, is that there is a tumor inside your liver that consists of cancer-cells, and it's too far gone to remove." The doctor looked like he was finding something difficult to say. Gaia felt an ominous premonition about what would come next.

"I'm sorry. Maybe you have three to two years left. There is nothing we can do except ease your pain."

Gaia looked at the doctor, feeling numb. "No…"

"I'm sorry."

The doctor made his escape, and Gaia stared at the spot where he had stood. She was dying. She was dying…!

Gaia looked out of the window above her bed, and sighed. She looked at the perfectly blue, cloudless sky; at the trees with their green leaves swishing and waving mockingly above her head; to the carefree birds swooping in the sky. She felt like the entirety of Creation was making fun of her, laughing at her diseased, dying body. Tears came to her yes, and Gaia found herself wishing that Rei was here for her. She lay back, and tried to go to sleep.

She'd call him up tomorrow.

* * *

(Tokyo General Airport, two days after Kai has received his phone-call…)

-----------

"You shouldn't have lied all the same."

"Give me a break, Rei, I don't feel like explaining to everyone."

Kai and Rei were BOTH headed for China. Rei was going home at last, and Kai was going for reasons of his own. But it got to him that Kai had lied to Mr. Dickinson of all people about where he was going. He had said that he just wanted to say bye to Rei!

"You know I'm no angel, and besides, it's not up to Mr. Dickinson where I go."

"So where are you going then?" Rei challenged him. Kai looked at him, then looked away.

"It's none of your business, Rei!"

Rei watched him storm off to another seat farther away from him. Why did Kai like to be so difficult? Rei sank down into some chairs that stood behind him, and sighed.

(Why are you so pig-headed, Kai? Can't you see I'm just trying to help?)

Kai glared at the back of Rei's head, his mouth a small, tight line of anger. (Bloody Neko-jin. Stay out of this.)

(What's he competing for, Ice-Queen-Of-The-Century?)

(Can he not keep himself to himself?)

(Stupid fool WILL tell me what's wrong,) Rei sat up, determined to make Kai spill the beans;

(I will NEVER open my mouth, cat-boy,) Kai turned around in his seat to glare at Rei across the hall;

(If it's THE LAST-)

(-THING I DO!)

* * *

(Later, in Hong Kong…)

-----------

[BBBRIING!!!]

"Hello?"

"REI?"

"Gaia! Hi! What's up?"

Rei had just gotten off the plane with Kai, and they were waiting for a coach in the bus-terminal. In the meantime, he'd called Keira's mobile phone, as the house-phone didn't seem to be working at the moment. He knew that Gaia usually borrowed it from her friend, and luckily for him Keira had left it at the hospital just a few hours earlier.

Gaia had gotten a nasty shock when the phone suddenly piped up, and had tapped each of the tiny buttons until she hit the 'Take Call' button. Completely by luck, too. Gaia WAS supposed to be back in Tiger River Village by now, like she had told Rei, but somehow it just hadn't happened.

"I… where are you?"

"I'm at the airport. Guess what, I'm coming home!"

"You're… you're in China?!"

"Yes. What's the matter? You don't sound too pleased."

"Oh, sorry, no, I AM pleased, it's just that…"

"Well?"

Rei heard her sighing. "I'm in hospital."

Kai watched his friend suddenly go pale, and frowned.

"What's up with you?"

"H-Hospital…?"

Gaia sounded like she was choking. "…Yeah…"

"(HOSPITAL?)" Kai echoed, and Rei looked at him, his face a total blank. "What the hell is she doing there?"

When he wouldn't answer, Kai took the phone off him and asked HER, instead.

"Oh, nothing, what's wrong with Rei? Why doesn't he want to talk to me?"

Kai sighed. "It's not that he DOESN'T want to talk to you; more like he can't. He's having a slight…" Kai glanced at him; "…Malfunction."

"Tell him I want him to come here, tell him to come to my hospital, Kai."

"I'll get him there, just where are you?"

"Chiang Fu Memorial. Get a cab, I don't think there's a bus that comes over here."

When he heard the name of the hospital, Kai could have sworn that this was indeed his lucky day. He could search for the person who wanted him without having to break his cover to Rei! Brilliant. Then he mentally slapped himself. How could he be smirking like this when Gaia was in hospital?!

"…Sorry – why are you in there, anyway…?"

Gaia sighed. "I can't… I can't tell you on the phone… too many people…"

"Alright. See ya there."

* * *

(Chiang Fu Memorial, reception, three hours later…)

-----------

"Are you sure you will be fine? Sitting here all by yourself?"

"Hey, don't worry about me. I can manage."

Rei was having second thoughts about leaving Kai alone in a Chinese hospital, but Kai WANTED him to leave.

He looked uncertainly at his friend. "I don't know…"

Kai was getting impatient. "Just go, alright?! Gaia's waiting."

Rei sighed, his face looking gloomier than ever. Kai guessed what he was thinking, and touched his arm. "Whatever is wrong, you should go to her. She needs you right now, Rei."

"But… I can't help but feel a little…" he sighed, and shook his head.

"Thanks, anyway, Kai; I appreciate it. I'll… see you later."

Kai shrugged, and said: "See you later." He watched Rei walk off and waited for five minutes after he turned the corner, and skulked off to the nurse at the reception, feeling like a total hypocrite.

"Hey, I'm looking for a girl that's been admitted here."

The bored nurse hardly even spared him a glance. "Name…?"

"I don't know… but she asked for a Kai Hiwatari."

The nurse gave him a real long stare, which made him want to scream at her, but he controlled himself, and… eventually… she told him to go to the Casualty unit, room B112.

* * *

(Outside B112, ten minutes later…)

-----------

(Right,) Kai thought, nervous;

(Here goes…)

When he saw the person lying in the bed, motionless, he gasped. It was unmistakably…

* * *

(Gaia's room…)

-----------

Rei walked in, feeling very awkward. There was only one white bed in the room, and one chair for visitors. The window was open, and he slowly went over to close it. He wanted to avoid looking at her as long as possible.

"Don't close it. Please…"

Rei flinched at the sound of her voice.

* * *

(B112, at the same moment…)

-----------

…It was unmistakably Mai Li. Kai edged closer, and saw that her face was turned away from him, towards the wall. He glanced at the monitor, which showed her heart's regular beating with a 'BEEP, BEEP'.

Kai sighed, relieved. It looked like she was deeply asleep. There were tubes going into her arms and chest, and he hoped that it wasn't serious. He really did.

* * *

(Gaia's room…)

-----------

"You're here." Gaia sat up, and gave him a measuring look. Rei couldn't get himself to look at her, so he stared at the tiles on the floor instead. Even though there were no tubes or weird-looking fluids dripping into her veins, the room still had that… feeling.

Rei had sensed the same feeling around old man Mori that day he fell ill. It was the unforgettable, suffocating smell of death.

"Why will you not look at me?"

His cheeks burned with shame.

"Are you afraid?"

Rei slowly looked up, and saw that Gaia didn't look at all pale. She looked as she had always done, only a little more tired. Rei was so relieved, he went over and gave her a hug. Gaia stiffened, then relaxed, and even laughed a little.

(She's not going to die,) he thought, his arms tightly around her;

(She's not going to die!)

So why did that feeling still hang around her?

* * *

(B112…)

-----------

"Hello, Kai."

Kai stood up, feeling a jolt inside his stomach.

"Mai…?"

She turned, and Kai felt something plummet to the bottom of his shoes. What had happened to her?

* * *

(Gaia's room…)

-----------

Rei looked at her, smiling. "It's gonna be alright. We'll get you out of here in no time!"

Gaia felt a strong twinge inside her stomach, whether of guilt or anything else, she didn't know. All she knew was that she had to find a bathroom fast. She pushed him away from her, and ran out, looking for a toilet.

Rei sat on the bed, shocked out of words. Then he ran after her, and saw her going into a toilet. He went in to see what was the matter.

He came in on her stooping over the sink, and coughing hard. Rei was about to go and help her, but on impulse stayed inside a cubicle and continued to watch her.

Then he left before she noticed, and went back to the room, sick to his stomach. Gaia was coughing up blood. That was not a good sign. She wasn't going to be okay at all, he realized. She just MIGHT be dying.

* * *

(B112…)

-----------

Mai had a bandage going around her head, and covering her eyes completely. Even so, Kai could see the bruises around her face and eyes, not to mention the ones on her upper arms.

Who had done this?

"Kai? I can't… you're still there, right?"

He went up to her, and she reached out blindly. Kai let her run her fingers over his face and hair, and felt something inside him go all shaky and weak. She still did it to him. Whatever 'it' was.

"I can't… I can't tell!" she said, panic in her voice. Kai quietly put his arms around her, and kissed her gently. "It's me…" he said, smiling. She turned towards the sound of his voice, and grinned, shrugging.

"I can't really see you."

"Who did this to you? Tell me so I can make them suffer." Kai said, not joking. Mai Li grimaced. "I don't know. They… it was dark."

Guilt suddenly crashed over Kai. "I'm so sorry, I should have been there, it-" he sighed, frustrated. "If only I hadn't left…"

Mai Li just sat still, letting him blow off all the guilt. Only after he was quiet did she ask: "Are you done?"

Kai looked at her. "I suppose…"

"Good. Because it wasn't your fault. And that's all there is to it."

* * *

"What's wrong with you, Gaia?"

Gaia stopped, standing at the door. Rei was turned away from her again. She felt guilt leaving a sour taste in her mouth.

"Rei…" she said, and exhaled. This was going to take a while.

"Tell me."

She went over and sat next to him on the bed. A bird was chirping happily outside, and she mentally cursed it. He turned to face the wall, and Gaia sat facing the opposite way. They couldn't have been farther apart.

"I'm… I've got cancer. They say it's my liver… they can't do anything for me. They say that I'm going to die soon."

She felt him flinching, and took his hand. When he still wouldn't look at her, she got angry. Gaia got off the bed and moved towards the opposite side. He just looked at the wall. She put her hands on his face and slowly forced him to look her.

"LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME, YOU COWARD!!!" she shouted, gritting her teeth. Rei gave her a wide-eyed stare, shocked.

"I'M THE ONE DYING HERE, NOT YOU! AND YOU STILL WON'T LOOK AT ME! WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL THOSE 'I LOVE YOU'S?! DON'T THEY COUNT ANYMORE?!"

(At least he has the decency to look ashamed,) she thought, furious.

"I'm not going to spend the last of my days with a cowardly dog like you. I thought that when you came, I could at least rely on you. That I could trust you to be there for me." Gaia snorted bitterly, and dug her nails into Rei's cheeks. "GOOD-BYE, KON."

She let him go, and went to look out the window. Damn it if SHE would be the one leaving first!

* * *

"Look…" Mai rummaged under the pillow, and pulled out something white. It was his old scarf.

"I still have it. I didn't let them take that away from me!"

Kai shook his head at her, smiling. This girl…

"You had better not be wagging your head at me, young man! I may not be able to see you, but I still know what you are thinking." Mai said, smiling too.

"What did they do to you, anyway?" he asked her, but she shook her head.

"I don't want to talk about it, Kai."

"But-"

"NO, okay?"

He sighed. "Alright. Whatever you say."

She sighed too, and shrugged. "I may tell you, someday. When I think you're ready." Then she pulled his hand closer, and when he leant closer, she whispered something to him that made him blush.

"MAI!!!"

"I'm just kidding, chill out!"

Kai looked at her, just grateful that she was with him and alive, although she was thoroughly battered. He touched her cheek, and kissed her again. He just wished she could see him.

"I've… really missed you, Kai. I really have. Why couldn't you have been born in China? Why could I not have been a Li? Why, why, why, eh?" she said, the corners of her mouth trembling with emotion.

"I love you, Mai."

She gasped. That was totally unexpected, but she liked how… special it made her feel. "Say that again… please…"

Kai pulled her closer, so that their noses touched. "I am in love with you, Mai Li, and I will never leave you again no matter what the cost." She shook her head.

"Don't say that, Kai. You don't know what you're getting yourself into." He watched tears slowly running down her face, tinged red with blood.

"No Matter What The Cost." Kai said again, gritting his teeth; for once in his miserable life, he had been given a second chance, and he was NOT going to waste it. Ever.

Mai finally let go of it all, and began to sob hysterically in his arms, calling him and everyone else who had ever hurt her names, and hitting Kai because it made her feel better, and he let her vent all her pent-up anger on him because he cared.

Mai cried about the people in the village who had died because she hadn't been fast enough, because she couldn't save them, because they were too far gone. She cried about Han, and about how beautiful he had made her feel, and about how she loved him and the world had ripped him away from her mercilessly. She cried about her grandma and her ma, and about the heavy responsibility of being the only healthcare facility in a 5-mile radius.

And finally she cried about Kai himself, and how much he had hurt her when he had left her alone in her house, and she had had nobody to talk to, or be with, or care about. She cried because his scarf had nearly driven her mad, because it reminded her every second of the indisputable fact that he was OUT OF HER REACH. And then she cried because it was all hopeless, and painful, and screwed-up, and sad. And because she really hurt all over. And because she was afraid she would go blind.

And all the while Kai was there, never moving, never complaining, never leaving her. Mai finally stopped, and touched his face. It was wet, too. "Kai…?"

He smiled, and wiped his face. "Sorry. Couldn't help it." Then he leaned closer than before, and, just before he kissed her, said: "I love you, Mai Li." He glanced at the screen and saw the green heart-line jump, and smiled, feeling smug.

And then he kissed her.

* * *

Rei sat motionless on the bed, aware only of her. He watched her standing at the window, facing away from him. He looked at her white hair streaming down her back, and at her naked back in the green hospital uniform. Never had he wanted more to hold her close.

"…Gaia…"

"GO AWAY." Rei flinched, feeling actual physical pain at the coldness in her voice. He got up, and went over to her to try and get her to forgive him.

"…Gaia, please…" he said, putting his hand on her shoulder. She shrugged him off, and nearly screamed at him to: "LEAVE ME ALONE!!!"

He felt her rejection cut through him like a knife, and he looked at the floor, ashamed. Gaia HATED him.

"Leave me alone, Rei. Why make it all harder than it already is?"

"BECAUSE I CAN'T, OKAY?! I CAN'T LEAVE YOU ALONE!!!" Rei cried, outraged. She shook her head, silent. He stepped closer, and put both his arms around her. "I love you. I can't let you go."

Gaia shook him off, and, still turned away, delivered her harshest blow.

"Yes, well I can. Go away, Rei. I don't love you anymore."

She heard him take a sharp breath, and ignored the guilt bubbling painfully in her stomach.

"Do you… mean… that?" she heard him asking quietly. Gaia didn't care anymore; she had to hurt him because he was, even if he didn't know, really hurting her, she wanted to make him pay for not looking at her earlier on. The pain in his voice told her that she was already breaking him to pieces. Part of her was horrified at what she was doing; but part of her delighted in taking revenge on him.

"Do you… really… not love me anymore, Gaia? Is it… over?"

Rei suddenly grabbed her, and forcibly turned her around, pushing her against the window and leaning against her. She gasped, afraid he just might throw her out the window.

"Tell me; IS IT OVER?!!!" he said, his voice breaking and tears running down his face.

"GO AWAY!!!" she screamed back, hating him.

"NO!! TELL ME THE TRUTH!!! DO YOU EVEN GIVE A SHIT ANYMORE?!!!"

"GO AWAY! LEAVE ME ALONE!!" Gaia cried, and then suddenly put her head on his shoulder, too tired to fight anymore.

But Rei pushed her away. "Stay away from me. I don't need you."

"What?!"

He smiled, bitter. "How's it feel to get a taste of your own medicine?"

Gaia sank down to the floor, and sighed.

"I hate you, Rei."

He went and sat down next to her, his head aching madly. "I hate you, too."

He felt surprised when she suddenly flung her arms around his neck, and started to cry. He felt a strong impulse to cry, too, but he suppressed it. "I don't want to die, Rei," Gaia said, shaking in fear.

"I don't want you to die either."

Gaia and Rei looked for the first time that evening straight into one another's eyes. Amber met dark-brown gaze, as they both admitted to themselves that they had been horrible to each other. Gaia smiled.

"I love you, Rei. Please forgive me."

He kissed her, glad that that was over. "I love you, too. I'm sorry."

Then he picked her up, and carried her to bed. He laid her down, and covered her with her blanket, taking care to tuck her in nice and warm. She looked up at him, her dark eyes already blinking, eye-lids heavy with sleep. Rei bent down to give her a gentle kiss on her forehead, and Gaia smiled, feeling that strange thrill running down her spine.

"Thank you, Rei. I don't know what I would've done without you."

He straightened up, reluctant to leave her side. "Gaia, I…" he couldn't find anything to say. She looked so vulnerable where she lay, her dark skin shining in the softened hospital lights, her hair tousled over her pillow, framing her face in a silvery halo. She smiled, and one corner of her lips quirked upwards, her eyes half-shut.

Rei could have stood there, watching her for hours.

Suddenly Gaia stretched out her hand, and held his wrist, a mischievous light in her eyes. She pulled him closer, and he suddenly understood what she was asking. Rei's eyes widened in surprise, and his cheeks flamed red. He swallowed, trying to wet his parched mouth, and blinked at her.

She got up off the bed, and wound her arms around him, putting her head on his shoulder. She could feel the wild thumping of his heart, like a small bird trying to break free of it's cage, and smiled.

Rei was such an innocent.

Gaia looked into his eyes, and enveloped him in a hot, burning kiss, pressing her body against his. Rei did not know where his sweet, quiet Gaia had gone, and when she had been replaced with this fiery, passionate girl, but his mind had flown away up into the sky as soon as their lips met. Gaia kissed him, and Rei was beginning to lose all sense of self, his stomach was going weird, his legs had been reduced to jelly and he felt a slow fire beginning to build up inside of him.

Gaia moved backwards, and Rei moved along with her, rendered speechless and mindless.

She let him go, and he gasped for air. His mind briefly returned, and he stared at her, wondering what had gotten into her.

"Gaia, are-"

But Gaia didn't let him finish. She kissed him again, and he forgot everything except the touch of her lips, the feel of her body pressed so close to his. She turned him around so that he was standing in front of the bed, and they sank down together onto the soft mattress.

Soon, they forgot everything but each other, and the steady rhythm of their hearts beating in sync.

* * *

(Later that night…)

-----------

Rei blinked, waking up. Briefly he wondered where he was, then felt something nuzzling in his chest. He looked down, and a sudden red flush crept across his face and ears.

Gaia was lying in his arms on the narrow hospital bed, her clothes askew and with a small smile curling her expressive lips. Rei remembered everything, and sighed, not really able to believe that they'd almost… YOU KNOW, in the hospital! He ran his hand through his already messed up hair, glad that it hadn't come loose from its binds.

He felt a small breeze caressing his skin, and realized that his shirt was unbuttoned. He looked at Gaia; she looked so peaceful, so beautiful where she lay. Rei carefully slid out beneath her arms, until he landed on his feet off the bed. He grimaced; his shoes were lying near the door, and his T-shirt was lying on the floor near the foot of the bed. He quickly got dressed (his trousers were still firmly secure!), and with a final look in Gaia's direction went outside.

Then he remembered Kai, and swore at himself. He had been so busy fighting with Gaia - among other things - that he had forgotten everything about him!

He ran towards the reception, but suddenly saw Kai walking near the hospital refreshments stall. "Kai!" he shouted, waving at him. Rei grimaced . He hoped Kai wouldn't be TOO mad.

But when he caught up with his friend, he saw that something had completely changed in his manner, and he didn't look as depressed as before. Kai smiled when he saw him, and asked how it went with Gaia. At the mention of her name, Rei couldn't help but smirk.

Kai frowned. What was Ray's problem? Just why was he smirking? Then an idea popped up in his brain, and his jaw practically hit the floor.

"You DIDN'T…?"

Rei went red as a tomato, and Kai went a little pale. "In a HOSPITAL?! Man, that's CRIMINAL."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Rei denied, and Kai grinned at him, unable to believe what his friend had been up to.

"You are insane." Kai said, and slapped his back. Rei looked a bit sheepish, but proud. "You are an idiot. Rei, the goody-goody strikes again!"

"But… I didn't DO anything!!!"

"Yeah, right. Whatever."

The two boys looked at each other, and laughed. Just then, everything was perfectly alright.

Rei looked over Kai's shoulder, smiling; but his smile quickly fell off his face, and an expression of pure, green hatred twisted his face.

What the hell was HE doing here?!

Kai noticed that Rei wasn't looking too happy, and asked him what was going on. He pointed towards the far hall, and Kai saw immediately what he meant. He looked at Rei, who looked angry enough to kill.

"What's he doing here?"

* * *

A/N: Well, what do you think?


	8. A Plague Of Ants

"There's just something about Gaia…" A Beyblade Fic By Sakin 

A/N: Revised, rewritten and re-mastered.

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade.

Chapter 8: A Plague of Ants

* * *

(Still inside the hospital, the hall near the reception, late evening)

-----------

"What is he doing here?" Kai asked Rei, who shrugged, dumbfounded.

(How had Lee known?! How?!) Rei thought frantically, and clenched his hands into fists. He glanced at Kai, and then pulled the older boy with him onto some stairs that led down to the first floor.

"What's your problem?!" Kai was wondering what had possessed Rei. He guessed there were more than a few things that his friend had not told him about his relationship with Gaia. (Nothing is as it seems,) Kai thought, feeling the irony of that statement. Nothing was as it seemed with him, either. There was Mai, for starters. He smiled slightly; only a corner of his mouth curled up, and then he resumed his serious expression.

"How did Lee know that Gaia is here?" Rei said, apparently talking to himself. Kai glanced around the corner, and saw that Lee and Co. had moved on.

"Uh, Ray…?"

"Someone must have told him somehow…" Rei was still muttering to himself. "I can't let him find her! But I mustn't let him see me, either. How, though…?"

"He's gone."

"Huh?"

Kai sighed, exasperated. "Lee has vamoosed. I think you should hurry and get to her before he does."

Rei looked blank for a second, and then suddenly sprang into action and flew round the corner and down the hall like a cat on fire. Kai stared after him, and wondered if he should go and intervene.

Then he shrugged.

This was Rei's battle, not his. He had no right to fight for him. Besides, he reasoned, I've got my own problems. How serious could his be? Rei just probably doesn't want Lee to steal Gaia from him; it can't really be anything more serious than that.

Having completely justified the fact that he would rather go and spend time with Mai than help Rei out, Kai walked off towards her room, a silly smile on his face.

But as he walked away, Kai couldn't help but feel a sudden foreboding about leaving Rei alone. Shouldn't he stay and help, in case things got real ugly? But heart (as always in moments like these) overrode head, and Kai instantly forgot about his bad feeling, and went off in search for Mai's room.

* * *

Rei got to Gaia's room too late; Lee had already arrived.

In fact, as he stood behind the door and spied on them, he realized that he must have been here for a while now.

"…So have you decided?" Lee asked her, and Rei frowned. Decided what?

"What's there to decide? You have not given me much choice," she answered bitterly, and Rei smiled, glad that she was standing up for herself.

"Well, it's either that, or death."

"I'd rather die than spend the rest of my life with you!"

Lee shook his head, and tut-tutted. "Gaia, Gaia, Gaia. When will you see that there is no option? You must live, and you must marry me in order to pay off your grandpa's debt, and receive the best health care to cure your disease. Do you want to die with your name and the name of your family disgraced?"

Rei watched her lower her head, her white hair falling down to cover her eyes and face. She looked vulnerable now, weak. But Gaia was not the kind to give up so easily.

"The answer is still no, Lee. I'll figure something out, some way for me to clear the debt, or to prove that it was not taken out in the first place. I just…" she shook her head; "I can't believe that grandpa took out so much money, and then did not pay it back! It doesn't make sense to me at all!"

"What if you don't find a way? What will you do, then? I don't think Kon will marry you when you have a debt worth over 25,000 Yuan. Who would want a wife with so much baggage?"

She looked up, eyes blazing. "Who said I was going to run to him, anyway? I can't beg for his help every time I am in trouble. No, I will find my own way. Besides, I'm not going to live for long. Why leave him a widower at his age and ruin his chances at a decent life when I can keep him as a… friend? He has already done so much for me… I owe him my life. I can't ask him for more. It is rude, and silly to expect so much from him. Besides… I don't think he will marry me at all, after-" she stopped, and glared at Lee.

"After what?" he asked, smirking.

(After the way I acted the other day,) she thought, feeling withering shame at how they'd fought with each other. The things she'd said.

(That must never happen again!) Gaia decided, nodding to herself. What she said to Lee was:

"That's none of your business, Hitoru. Go on, scram! Get out of here. I don't want to see you." Gaia turned away from him.

Lee was still smirking. "We'll see if you're still saying that two weeks from now. By then, you'll probably have felt the pain, and will be begging me for a cure. Just you watch."

"Not happening."

"Hmph."

"Don't hold your breath, Hitoru."

"I'll be waiting."

"Waiting for what, Lee?" Rei came into the room, acting like he hadn't heard a bit.

Lee looked taken aback. "Rei! Um… hello. What brings you here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Rei stated, showing that Mr. Lee was not wanted here.

"Just saying hi to old friends, condolences, etcetera, you know."

Rei smiled threateningly. "Do I ever."

"Well, gotta go, hope you get better Gaia, come on, boys!" Lee cried, and all three disappeared sharpish. He watched them go, amused.

Gaia just hung her head. What was she going to do, now? She was certain Rei had heard what they were saying.

And indeed he had.

"What's this I hear about a 25,000 debt?" he asked her, taking a seat.

"Lee says that my gramps borrowed 30,000 and didn't pay the people back. A debt-collector showed up at my house, claiming that my grandpa owed him some money, and showed me a paper with his signature on it. Unless I can prove that the signature was faked or that the loan is bogus, I'm stuck having to pay for it." She sighed, and stared at her hands, lying in her lap. "Where am I going to get such money?"

Rei looked at her, sitting in the white bed with the blanket wrapped around her, and he was uncomfortably reminded of a shroud. He felt a stab of fear in his stomach, but he shook it off. She was here, right this minute, alive. What more could he ask? The girl would die when she did. There was no point in making her feel bad about it.

"We'll figure out something, you'll see. Just when things get real down, we'll find a way through."

Gaia gave him a tired glance, and nodded. "Yeah," she said in an extremely depressed tone, "Sure we will, sunshine."

Rei laughed. He did sound a bit like one of them cheery children's programs! "Do you want me to be depressed too? If both of us slouch around and moan all day, we will never get anything done!"

Gaia got up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed - and as she did, several strands of her hair fell onto the floor. "Rei…" she said in a frightened tone, picking up the hairs. He saw how wide her eyes were.

"I really AM dying, aren't I?"

He just looked at the strands of her white hair, lying delicately in her palms. She really was dying.

With each passing second, these three words, 'she is dying', dug themselves deeper into each of their minds, like a splinter that would not go away. It was intolerable.

"Gaia…" Rei took her hands, squeezing them tightly, too afraid to let them go. "I'm sorry."

"Rei… oh, it's not FAIR! I don't want to die, I don't want to!" she cried, and hugged Rei, feeling like she was going to choke any second. He held her close, and closed his eyes tightly.

(Why did this have to happen to her, of all people?!)

Suddenly, Gaia began to shake a little. Then, a racking cough made her whole body spasm and twist in his arms.

"Gaia?! What's-" he was interrupted by doctors bursting into the room, and shoving him away from her. "HEY!"

"She's experiencing an attack, she needs to be taken to a sterile isolation chamber. Don't you worry a bit, son, she'll make it," one of the doctors barked at him, but Rei insisted on saying goodbye. He went over to the bed where they were setting up the equipment, and looked at her lying there. One corner of her mouth went up in a smile, and she reached up, looking terribly weak. Rei took her fevered hand in his, and was about to say something with a reassuring smile –

- when suddenly the bed was yanked forward and the doctors practically sprinted up the hall towards the lift-area. He watched them disappear from view, and wondered if she would make it.

"She has to… she's got to…" he mumbled to himself, feeling his stomach aching with worry and fear. "She's Gaia. She's always been here before, and she'll be here now."

(Oh, really?) said the sceptical Voice of Truth in his mind.

(And what makes her more special than her grandpa? Her parents? Face it, kid, the Mori's have always been cursed. You chose the wrong girl to fall in love with, if you wanted an immortal one.)

Rei went and sat down in one of the waiting chairs lined outside her room, and sighed, running his hands through his already messed-up black hair. There was nothing else for it but to sit here and wait for a doctor to show up with the news, whether good OR bad.

Nothing for it but to wait and watch the clock ticking every second, minute and hour, counting down to either her survival, or her end.

Nothing for it but to wait.

* * *

(A few days later…)

-----------

"Thanks for putting us up, Keira, we appreciate it."

"Oh, no, you're welcome Rei."

"Thanks."

"Sure," Keira stole a glance at Kai. He was not bad-looking at all.

Kai and Rei had come to stay for a while at her place, because the hospital had almost kicked them out for loitering in the halls too much. Gaia had survived the attack, but Rei was only allowed to go in the visiting hours. As a result, time dragged immensely for both of them while they were apart.

As for Mai Li, the doctor was removing the bandages from her eyes today. Kai couldn't wait to go and see her. Besides, this Keira girl was definitely giving him some weird looks. Since he had become 'involved' with Mai, he didn't have any time for other girls and stuff like that. It was all Mai, Mai, Mai, with him.

Keira gave them the couch to sleep on, as Gaia's room was still messed up, containing God-knows-what and all of her old clothes bundled up in the middle of the room. Keira had thought she might take them to the Laundr-O-Mat downstairs, but somehow had forgotten to go. It didn't help that her boss at Yang's Tea House threatened to fire her for not appearing for the last few days. She had tried to explain to him that her friend was lying critically ill in hospital, but Yang wouldn't have it. Said she was destroying the workers' respect for the rules of the place. Keira flicked a strand of her red hair out of her face, annoyed. She had to keep that job, or she was shot. She'd have to go home and (she winced) much groveling and smirking and 'I told you so' would ensue between her and her dad.

Her mother had left their house years ago, and Keira (being an only child) had said that she would go to the big city to work and possibly see her mother again. She and Gaia had met a few years ago, when they had attended the same Middle school for two years and dropped out. There were too many kids with issues in that place, and basically if you hadn't money or looks (they were both eleven at the time, and not very female in form) you were pretty much dead meat. They didn't live in the same villages, but kept in contact by constantly writing letters, and visiting each other.

It was when they were both twelve that Keira had finally gotten to meet Rei. Gaia had been boasting about him to her all the time, saying that he was her 'bestest, bestest ever best friend' and 'would you like to meet him?' When she had met him, Keira knew that he and Gaia were perfect for each other. She did, admittedly, have a little thing for him, but knew that trying to get him to be her boyfriend was as futile as getting a tiger to go veggie.

A year later, he had disappeared, and Gaia had been inconsolable. She had gone without food for so long that she was losing weight and getting more and more depressed. It was only when he sent her a letter, a year or so later, that she suddenly bounced back into her former self, all happy and content. Keira didn't know WHAT was written in it, but she knew that it must have been special, to make Gaia jump right back into life again.

Keira wished that there was someone like that for her, too. She didn't feel jealous of her friend, just envious. Boys like Rei were as hard to find as a diamond in the Arctic.

So, they got to share the couch. It was one of them couches that could be folded into a bed, so they each could sleep on one side. As it was daytime, though, Kai doubted that any of them would get to sleep.

Rei couldn't take it anymore. It was just too much; like an itch that just HAD to be scratched.

"Kai; why are you still here?"

"Does it concern you?" Kai answered coldly.

"No, but I'd like to know."

Silence.

"Fine. There's someone I know in the hospital. They, uh…"

Rei had a feeling he knew who 'they' were… but to interrupt now would be fatal. This one just had to be waited out. Kai would spill, no doubt about it… it looked like he had wanted to for ages. While Rei was pondering this, Kai wondered whether he really should tell him.

(Smug git probably knows already,) he reasoned, (Else he wouldn't have that smirk on his face. But if I tell him, I'll get no peace from him. And if I don't, then it's the same story. Oh, what's the use? Might as well stop all his questions.)

"They're in pretty bad shape, and I've got to go see her-"

"-Whoa! HER?" Ray was surprised. Kai was actually admitting something! (Today ought to be made into a national holiday!)

"Don't act like you don't know, cat-boy." Kai was getting annoyed. "Yes, it's a girl, and yes, it's just possible that I, the great social pariah, CAN care about a girl, and yes, it is also unbelievable but true that she just might love me too, okay?!"

Kai had stood up when he got angry, and now glared down at Rei, who was sitting on the carpet, his mouth slightly open. He had to admit, it did come as a shock to him that Kai was actually telling him about this; he thought that his captain would rant a little and scramble out the door, not practically shout at him that he really did love her.

"It's Mai, isn't it?" Ray said quietly, picking at a circular hole in the carpet. He looked up at Kai, who stood there, red-faced and angry.

Kai kicked the couch, and said, in a grumbling tone, "Yeah; it's her."

"Okay. Alright, sorry for being on your back all the time, but you did turn a little schizo on me and the guys in Tokyo."

Kai smiled ironically. "Falling to pieces like that… yeah, it was pretty uncool." He shuddered. "Not a nice feeling at all."

Rei looked at the clock on the wall. "Nearly visiting hours, you know," he commented, sounding a little too nonchalant. Kai immediately saw through it, because he'd been doing the same thing for the last hour.

"Come off it, Rei; you've been staring at that clock for ages now." Kai smirked at the guilty look on his face.

"God, we're sad." Rei said, and sighed.

"Yep. Suckers for women."

"How much longer?"

"2 hours, 23 minutes and 15 seconds. Make that 14."

"13…"

"12…"

"Rei?"

"Yeah?"

Kai felt a little awkward about asking him, but curiosity won out in the end. "Why… what's Gaia still doing in the hospital? You never told me what was wrong with her."

Rei sighed, and tore at the carpet, a feeling of helplessness clouding his head. No matter how he tried to forget it and go on like normal, Gaia's impending death always came back to haunt him.

"She's got cancer. Something's up with her liver, and… well, I asked the doctor, but he said that there was nothing they could do."

Kai was horrified. No wonder she hadn't wanted to tell him! Something like that… and Rei was sitting there looking as calm as always.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Kai asked, trying to fit into his head the image of Gaia slowly dying. Last time he'd seen her was at the bus-stop, all cheerful and sunny, and in the train… she hadn't looked sick then.

"What could you have done? Besides, I didn't want to worry you when you had so much on your mind." Rei glanced at the hole he was making in the carpet. He grimaced. It was practically fist-sized; Keira would kill him when she found out.

"Rei, you shouldn't keep stuff like that to yourself," Kai argued, but Rei shot him a glare.

"Now where have I heard that one before?"

"This is different. You're not me, Rei, I can't help being like that; you seriously shouldn't hide things, it's not good for you." Kai was really feeling the irony of that one.

"Why not?" Rei stared at the carpet, his voice heavy with resignation; "There's nothing you or anyone else can do about it. Gaia's dying, Kai."

He glanced at Kai, his amber eyes looking lost, tired and despairing.

"She's dying. She could be gone at any minute, at any second whether I'm there with her or not. And there's nothing I can do about it, either."

Heavy silence followed this last statement, and Kai wished there was something he could do to at least make his suffering easier.

But he knew that Rei was right.

It was up to fate now.

"I'm sorry." Kai said, seeing the utter uselessness of his words.

Rei nodded, hiding his face from Kai so the older boy wouldn't see his wet eyes.

One lone tear trickled down his left cheek, around the corner of his mouth and down his chin, and silently dripped onto his shirt.

* * *

(The same day, at the hospital…)

-----------

Gaia wandered around the hospital, having absolutely nothing to do for the whole evening. She wished the visiting hours would just hurry up and come already, bringing Rei along with them.

Gaia had just turned the corner into the casualty ward when she heard a familiar voice shouting for help. She tip-toed closer to where she heard the shouts come from, and wondered why no doctors heard what was going on.

As she got closer, Gaia could make out a few words.

"…NO! GET… YOU BASTARDS!"

"…WILL PAY FOR YOUR CRIME… NO CHOICE…!"

"…HELP! Somebody get these people off of ME!"

She crept closer to the wooden door, and peeked through the window. She gasped, almost crying out, but clapped her hands over her mouth just in time. She stared through the window, her eyes wide.

(I can't believe it! What the hell is Mai Li doing here?!)

There were two men standing around the bed, and a third one was sitting ON it… or on something IN it! He was sitting on Mai! Only now could Gaia see her flailing arms and legs, weakly pounding at the man on top of her. Gaia could stand it no longer. She slammed the door open, and bellowed at the top of her voice:

"GET OFF HER YOU BASTARD! JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!?!"

Gaia had hoped to surprise them, and it worked. The three men, all dressed in identical black worker-suits, quickly moved away from Mai, and somehow moved out of the door before Gaia could get a good look at their faces, leaping three feet forwards in the blink of an eye and disappearing round the corner.

Gaia stared after them, too shocked for words; then remembered where she was and walked as fast as she could towards Mai, who lay in the bed, all her blankets cast aside. The bed was ruffled, and her hospital gown had been ripped in several places. The older girl was wide-eyed, sweating and gasping for air, and Gaia bent to check her pulse. She was surprised at how fast Min's heart was hammering, and how hot her forehead was.

Just what had they been doing to her?

"Mai! MAI! It's me, Gaia," she said loudly, but Mai's eyes remained fixed on some invisible point in the air. Gaia slapped her cheeks, hoping to wake her from whatever horrible nightmare she was seeing, but Mai wasn't responding. Who were those men? And what had they wanted from her?

It was then that Gaia noticed the blackening burn on Mai's arm. She narrowed her eyes, and bent forwards to examine it. And gasped, astonished. It looked like a snake coiled around a flower and a knife, a pretty basic design… and Gaia could have SWORN that the snake had just moved! But – that wasn't possible! It was just a tattoo, wasn't it?

(Gaia, you're going nuts. Painted snakes don't move,) she scolded herself, embarrassed at her absurdity. Though the last time she had seen Min, her arm had been tattoo-free. When had she gotten it? And why was it drying now? Gaia slowly moved her hand towards it, and touched the tattoo with her finger. It felt crusty, like it was made of dried blood. Or some sort of herbal body paint. Had those men done it to her?

"-AAAAHH!!!"

"WHA-?!"

Mai quickly sat up, her eyes wild with fear, and Gaia fell off the bed, almost getting a heart-attack.

"STOP! STOP IT! NO!" Mai screamed, and Gaia got up, trying to calm her down. "It's alright! They're gone now. Calm down, there's nothing to be scared of," Gaia said in a quiet, sing-song voice, and managed to keep her from bolting out the door in hysteria.

Suddenly it was like Mai had gotten back her sanity and her famous calm, and she gave Gaia a perplexed look.

"What… oh. Thanks… I guess. For your help."

Gaia blinked a few times, surprised that this was the girl that was having screaming fits just a few seconds ago.

"Are you okay?" she asked, just to make sure Mai wasn't actually crazy.

"I'm fine, really. And thank you."

"Who were they? And where'd you get that tattoo?"

Mai gave her a sharp look, wondering since when Gaia had become so nosy. Gaia flinched, noticing she'd hit a nerve.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to!" she added quickly, hands up in the air. Mai sighed, and shook her head.

"No, you have a right to know, since you saved me and all that."

She unconsciously scratched the tattoo, and Gaia saw the snake mockingly wriggle it's tail at her. She shuddered, and focused on Mai's face instead of her arm. She couldn't help stealing glances at it, to see if it would move again.

"Those people were my family. I suppose you've heard that a Li can't have anyone in the house with her except for another Li?" Gaia nodded.

"Well, I had someone in my house a few years ago. He was…" Mai swallowed, "…A friend. The elders of my clan decided I had committed a very grave crime by letting him in my house and hanging around with him, so… I think they killed him. I was on probation for a year." Mai wondered if she should go on, if she could go on and tell Gaia about the dishonorable actions of her clan. But somebody ought to know the truth.

(Oh god, Han, I wish things hadn't turned out that way…)

Mai was surprised to find that the usual pang of guilt she felt was somewhat weaker than before… was it possible that she was getting over him?

"Anyway, while on probation, I met someone else. They were… special to me, and I didn't care about what the elders might say if they found out that I had committed the same crime twice in a row."

Her hands went under her pillow and tightened around the soft cloth of Kai's long, white scarf. Gaia didn't notice this.

"I was happy. And then a few weeks ago I was attacked in my home. The elders had found out, and decided that breaking a few ribs would teach me a lesson."

Gaia winced – Mai's family had been brutal beyond belief. The other girl went on in a cold, detached voice:

"Breaking a few ribs and… and… you know."

Mai shrugged, finding something hard to say, and Gaia stared at her. It wasn't possible – it shouldn't BE possible – no family treated their own daughter like that!

"Oh, they're no family. They don't even know the meaning of the word," she said, almost reading Gaia's mind. Her voice was filled with poisonous hate.

"You're not telling me they sent men to…" Gaia felt anger building up inside her, but also a sense of helplessness. Mai Li nodded, a look of resigned sadness on her face.

"…To rape you?! Oh, my God, that's sick!"

"Sick, but true. I mean, what does a girl value more than anything?" she shrugged, and the injustice of it all, the sheer wrongness just made Gaia so angry, SO enraged that… if there was some way she could hurt them right now, she would kill each and every one of them.

"They came today to finish off their punishment. This," she indicated the mark, "Was burnt on today, before you came. It's a symbol for other Li's to stay away from me. I'm an exile. They burnt it on with some herbal potion thing, and used some sort of trick to paralyze me, stop me from moving but letting me feel everything… feeling the pain is part of the punishment, you see. It all means I'm a traitor to the Li clan, an outsider. It means that I am in disgrace, and should never set foot on Li land, or practice my healing ever again. I'm going to get my clothes tomorrow, or whenever I'm let out of this bloody hospital."

Gaia saw that there were tears in Mai's eyes, and put a hand on her shoulder. This was really, really unfair of them. Gaia had a hard time believing that someone could be treated like that by their own family. Mai looked up at her, and gave her a wobbly smile.

"I'm sorry, I… I've been so busy feeling sorry for myself that I haven't asked you what you're doing here."

"Oh, nothing much, I just felt a little ill."

Mai stared hard at her, and Gaia felt her face heating up. Thank heaven her skin was dark, or Mai might have noticed her blushing!

"Come now, Gaia. You think you can fool me, a healer? I can feel that something's seriously wrong with you. Tell me."

Gaia shrugged; it was her turn to put on the 'cool' act.

"Cancer, 's all. Nothing to freak out about."

"Oh! Gaia, I'm so sorry," Mai said, her own problems diminishing when compared to Gaia's issues.

(Ray must be totally beside himself,) Mai thought, (I wish I could do something!)

"Don't sweat it. I'm gonna be fine." Gaia turned away, and stared at the wall, feeling awkward. Mai was left staring at Gaia's back. She sighed.

"I know you probably don't want me to feel sorry for you. I don't really want to insult your intelligence by lying and saying that it's alright. But… I mean, I never thought that YOU of all people would have such… bad luck. I really hope there's some way to cure you – if only I still had my equipment…"

All of this was really jarring on Gaia's nerves; she hated it when people became so mushy and pitying.

"Look, forget it, okay? I don't want to talk about it," she snapped, and Mai was surprised and a little hurt. Gaia turned around to look at her, then smiled. It was a painful, brittle smile.

"We're both survivors, Mai; we've both lost a lot. You've lost 'family' and I've lost family too. And no matter what happens, we always survive. You will get by, even though you're an exile, and I'll get by, even though I'm dying. And the world will keep turning long after we're gone."

* * *

(Late evening, the same day…)

-----------

Gaia and Mai had stayed together in Mai's room, quietly talking about their village, digging up fond memories from their childhood. Knowing the Li clan, someone would already be stationed in her house as the new healer. People would wonder why Mai had disappeared. Gaia was, as ever, wondering just where the hell she would come up with the money to pay off the debt, and when she would be let out of this hellish prison they called a hospital.

"Are you waiting for someone, Mai?" Gaia asked as she saw her checking the clock for the fiftieth time and nervously glancing at the door.

"Er, not-"

"Hey, Mai. Got you some ice-cream, strawberry flavor."

Gaia gave Mai a startled look, and Mai gawked at the door, just as Kai came through carrying a tub of strawberry Haagen-Dazs.

"Kai?!" Gaia gasped, totally off-guard. She stared at Mai. "It was Kai?!"

"What was Kai?" Kai asked, suspicion creeping into his voice.

"Err… I-I can explain!" Mai cried, having no idea HOW she would do that.

"(Tell him!)" Gaia whispered, and Mai shook her head hard.

"(Are you CRAZY?!)" she hissed, looking horrified.

"(Why the hell not?! You'll have to tell him sooner or later!)"

Kai felt his fingers slowly freezing on account of the ice-cream tub he held. What the hell was Gaia doing in here anyway? Wasn't she supposed to be in her room, waiting for Rei?

"Tell me what? What are you two talking about?"

The girls stared at Kai, a too-innocent-to-be-innocent look on their faces. He raised one eye-brow at them, and Gaia cracked.

"I'm sorry, Mai, but I have to tell him!"

Mai felt fear stabbing her stomach. "NO! Gaia, you promised!"

Gaia looked at her, regret shining in her brown eyes. "I have to…"

She turned to Kai with a grave look on her face.

"Kai, I have something to tell you…"

He wondered just what it was that Gaia had to say.

"Mai's family…"

* * *

(One week later, in Tokyo…)

-----------

"Okay, keep your eyes closed… don't look 'till I say so."

Kai had brought Mai Li to his mansion after Gaia had told him about what had happened to her home.

"Ants," she had said, "Everywhere. We get a plague of them in the autumn, and sometimes they eat entire crops! Mai's house was crawling, so her family is having specialists come in and fumigate the entire building. Too poisonous for her to live in. She needed somewhere to live, and because my house is being besieged by ants, too, she didn't want to ask you. Too embarrassed, you see."

He wasn't entirely sure he believed her tale – a plague of ants seemed a little crazy – but he went along with it all the same. The idea of it seemed VERY attractive.

Mai living with him in the house and only being a few rooms away… and with no Voltaire in sight! Heaven on earth, from his point of view.

Right now he was standing with her in his drive, her small bag of clothes slung around his shoulder, and with his hands hiding her eyes.

Mai couldn't stop herself smiling like a lunatic. For one minute there she had been about to die of a heart-attack, as she thought that Gaia was actually going to tell on her! Never again would she doubt her friend, never ever! She couldn't believe her luck when Kai actually swallowed her story, not once questioning what was quite obviously untrue.

Before she had left, though, Gaia had grabbed her arm and made her promise to tell Kai everything as soon as she could.

"You can't lie to someone like Kai, they'll take it really badly. Especially when he trusts you so much," she had said, squeezing her shoulders. Then she gave her a quick hug, and went up to her own room, giving them the privacy they needed to unwind.

As he slowly moved his hands away from her eyes, Mai gasped in surprise. A massive 6-storey house loomed over her, done in the late Victorian style with huge granite steps leading up to the entrance. There were many more glass-windows in this house than there were in the whole of Ray's village, and the whole building just gave off an air of cold majesty.

It was pretty daunting for a girl like Mai.

Kai nuzzled her neck, smiling to himself. It was going to be strange, living with her in that great big block of ice his grandfather called 'home'. He hoped she could bring some humanity into those long, cold corridors and the mostly unused rooms that filled the mansion. He gave her a hug, his arms around her stomach and his face buried in her warm, soft neck, and Mai leaned back and let him support her.

"It's so…" she struggled to find some word that suited the mansion; "…BIG."

Kai smiled. "That's one way to put it!"

He kissed her cheek, savoring the feeling of being close to her without her judging him, how she let him share her body-heat when he himself was so cold… He shuddered. Voltaire had a way of making people into heartless beasts like himself.

But Mai made him feel like there was a human somewhere inside him, that he wasn't entirely hopeless.

"Come on!" he took her hand, and pulled her with him up to the mansion, where the door was opened by his butler.

"Greetings, Master Hiwatari."

Kai nodded at him, impatient to show her his room. As he ascended the stairs to the 1st floor, towing Mai along, the butler called out to him.

"I thought you might like to know… your grandfather arrived today – I believe he has been let out on probation. He has been waiting in his office for you all day; he requested you be sent to him as soon as you arrived."

Kai turned away, feeling pangs of fear in his gut. How was this possible?! Voltaire should have been out of action for at least ten more years! What was he going to do with Mai?!

She noticed him going pale, and wondered if coming here was a good idea.

"Kai, I can find myself a hotel. If it's too much trouble, you don't have to put me up-"

"No. I won't just send you off like that." His grip on her hand tightened ever so slightly. "Let him do what he wants, I'm not sending you home."

And with that, he strode up the stairs, leaving the butler to deal with Mai and take her to his room. He turned the corner and headed for his grandfather's office, feeling much like a condemned man walking towards the gallows: he felt fear numbing him, making his heart thump wildly, but he knew there was no point in putting off the inevitable. He knocked on the heavy wooden doors that led to the room in which Kai had lived through some of his worst experiences. It fell open after the third knock, and Kai watched the man in the chair behind the desk swivel around to meet his eyes.

"Ah, my dearest grandson," Voltaire purred, oozing cruel sarcasm;

"Do come in."

* * *

A/N: What will happen next?!

ACK, it's a cliffhanger!!!

Thanks to all those people who reviewed this story for me, among them Sora Himura, Dolphi1, Kai/Ray and Sammy. Thanks for reading my stuff!!! Promise I'll try to have a chapter up by next week!


	9. The Twilight Hour

"There's Just Something About Gaia…"

A Beyblade Fic

Brought To You By Sakin

A/N: I changed a few things in the past chapters, revising them and all that. There IS one extra scene I added, at the end of chapter 7, which I'd really like you guys to check out (hint: it's what Kai thought Ray had done with Gaia…). If you want, you can read the whole story over again, it's really up to you, but I would recommend it.

So, if you are planning to give me a review, don't do it before you have checked out that scene. I think I might have to change the rating…

Disclaimer: I don't own beyblade except for my OC's; Gaia, Riku, Keira, Ma Jin Loans and so on and so forth.

Chapter 9: 'The Twilight Hour'

* * *

(Tokyo, Hiwatari Mansion, late evening…)

-----------

Kai swallowed hard, trying to fight the sense of fear that was threatening to overwhelm him. He kept his face cold and impassive, but underneath he just wished he could get this over with.

"What do you want?" he said gruffly, staring Voltaire in the eye.

"Come, now – I am away in prison for so long and that is all you have to say to me? Tsk, tsk, Kai. Your manners are, as always, lacking."

A muscle twitched in Kai's jaw.

"While I've been gone, you have evidently been slacking off your duties. I know where you've been–" Voltaire got up, and went towards Kai. A vindictive smile came over his face, and Kai was reminded of a snake that was about to pounce.

He continued. "-And I know what you are hiding, Kai."

Kai backed away, his heart plummeting to his shoes. What was the old coot talking about? He couldn't possibly know about…

"…I don't know what you're talking about."

"Why else were you sneaking around for? What are you smuggling up to your room? Where have you been all summer? You can't hide from me, Kai; I have ears everywhere."

Kai smiled grimly. "Hmph. Trust you to employ spies and crooks to keep an eye on me. Paranoid, old man?"

Voltaire glared at Kai, anger twisting his face. "I'll show you paranoid, you ungrateful little bastard!"

Kai was exuding coldness now. He knew that the old man was only bluffing earlier on – he didn't have JACK on him.

"What're you gonna do," he challenged him; "That you haven't done already?"

Suddenly Voltaire jumped on him, his large hands clamped around Kai's neck, strangling him. Kai clawed at his grandfather's hands, feeling the air being slowly squeezed out of his lungs. He kicked, hitting Voltaire's chest. He released him, and Kai fell, gasping for air. Voltaire was panting, steadying himself against the wall.

"You little brat…" he gasped, and Kai shot him a withering glare;

"I raised you from scratch, trained you to become the best blader in the world…"

"But instead you turned me into a cold-hearted monster…" Kai retorted, "…Like you. I hate your guts, Voltaire. You expect me to be grateful to you after… after everything that's happened?! You only kept me because it suited your plans!"

Voltaire got up, and grabbed a handful of Kai's hair, and pulled it hard.

"AH!"

"While the wealth of your parents remain in my hand, boy, there's nothing you can do to stop me. One day I'll have Biovolt up and running as before. And then I'll make you pay for your insolence!"

Kai was biting his tongue, trying to ignore the pain in his head.

"You're crazy, old man!" he shouted, and Voltaire rewarded him by smashing his head on the wall.

"UHN-!"

"You WILL hold your tongue!" Voltaire roared, and Kai struggled with him, trying to get away. Voltaire hit his head on the wall with a dull [Thunk!] and sparks went off in his head.

"Filth!" Voltaire spat, and let him go. Kai crumpled onto the floor clutching his head. It ached dully and everything was spinning madly in his eyes. He felt queasy, like he'd been on a roller-coaster.

"I'll be going back to my… accommodation, now. I'll be gone for a long while, so don't mess things up. And I'll be watching, boy, so don't try anything I wouldn't."

"Good… riddance to you… then," Kai groaned, trying to stop himself from throwing up.

Voltaire suddenly came back, and swung his leg, kicking his grandson's stomach very, very hard. So hard, that he passed out cold.

Voltaire looked down his nose at him, pleased at having silenced Kai so effectively. Better not break him, though. He needed him if Biovolt was to be established again. That Boris, though… he needed somebody to replace him, someone he could trust.

And what better person than Kai?

The old man grinned at his unconscious grandson, and poked him with his boot. He hardly reacted. Definitely lights-out.

"After all, what ties are stronger than family?" Voltaire mused.

"My dearest grandson."

* * *

Mai was shown to Kai's room by an anxious Butler. She was led through opulent halls, filled with crystal chandeliers and wide leather sofas with elegant small side-tables decorated with ornamental silver-ware. There were gilded mirrors, huge bed-rooms, entire bath-rooms decked out in ceramic mosaics, sometimes coated with gold or silver. It was all magnificently shiny, but something about all this disturbed her.

Everywhere she looked, the rooms were freezing; and all of the furniture had a thin layer of dust. She looked at the butler.

"Does anyone ever come here?" she asked, and he shook his head, looking mournful.

"None of these rooms are ever used, Miss. A fine waste of money, I should say. They were intended for parties and celebrations, but…" he shrugged, very un-Butler-like.

Mai felt flattered at the 'Miss'. "Please," she waved her hand, "Just call me Mai. There's no need for formality!"

The butler bowed, and she felt a little irritated. "As you wish, err… Mai. Shall I take you to Master's rooms?"

"Alright."

* * *

(Tiger River village, Gaia's yard, afternoon…)

-----------

"At least now I'm home, right?"

"I don't know where we're going to get a doctor from if you get one of those… attacks again."

"Well, you know First-aid, don't you?"

"Yeah, but…-"

"-'Yeah, but' this, and 'Yeah, but' that… Rei, if I get an attack, then so be it. I'm sure our new healer can take care of me."

"Gaia, I'm worried about you, can't you see that? I just… I just want you around for as long as possible. Is that-!"

Gaia leant over the fence, and planted a kiss on each side of his face, his fore-head and his lips, and squeezed his hands. His innocent, amber eyes beamed at her, and Gaia felt a warm, melting, chocolatey feeling inside her. Rei held her hands across the fence, and smiled. Once again she'd shut him up in the best possible way. Gaia grinned back, then, spotting his mother coming towards them, quickly bent down and pretended to be weeding her garden.

The garden was a real mess, and she had been trying to clean it when he came along and distracted her.

"Rei-chan, what are you doing out here? I thought I told you to get inside and do the dishes!" Ma barked at him.

Rei felt like he had been caught doing something bad. As he mumbled his apology and trudged inside, face downcast, his mother leaned on the fence and stared down at Gaia pretend-weeding.

Gaia was sure that they hadn't been caught, and was about to stand up to go inside and get herself a cuppa, when she felt something poking her head. She looked up, and saw that it was Rei's mom.

A look of pure shock plastered itself on her face, and Ma smiled benevolently down at her.

"Hard at work, I see." Ma stated dryly, and Gaia swallowed.

"Err… yeah, weeding away!"

"And seducing my son in the process," Ma smiled even wider. Gaia's eyes widened, and guilt made her hands tremble so hard that she ripped the weed she was pulling out into halves.

"No…" she whispered; "It's not like that…"

Ma made it all sound so dirty when she said it like that. Gaia thought of Rei's clear, innocent face and amber gaze, and the way he always held her, like she was so precious. As if she would fall into a million pieces if he let her go. 'Seducing' wasn't the word for it!

Ma realized she had offended the poor girl, and sighed. She put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry… I shouldn't have said that."

Gaia looked at her, her gaze just a little cold. "Yes. You shouldn't have, Mrs Kon." She moved to go inside, when Ma grabbed her hand, trying to apologize.

"Look, Gaia, it's not that I don't approve. I know that you are much too responsible to do something as stupid as…" here she faltered, clearly too embarrassed to continue. Mrs Kon looked a lot like Rei, especially when she smiled. But Gaia didn't want to let that make her soft on her.

She stared at the older woman, daring her to say what she meant.

"Well, you know…" Mrs Kon fidgeted with her basket. "…Sex."

"MRS KON!!!"

"Oh, don't give me that, I know what the youth of today get up to! I'm just worried that something will happen. He's too much of a distraction for you, and you are a single young woman, in charge of your own home. You must marry soon, and, well…"

Gaia smiled bitterly. "You don't want me to break his heart, right?"

Mrs Kon looked very awkward. The younger girl smiled coldly at her discomfort, and shook her head. "You think I'm capable of something as cruel as that? Why would I lead him on if I was planning to marry somebody else?"

Ma found the shape of one of her tomatoes very fascinating.

"Mrs Kon, I promise you," Gaia clutched the fence so tightly it cut into her skin; "I promise you that I will not marry anybody for the rest of my life. I will not hurt your son like that, unless… unless it was to save his life, in the most urgent of emergencies."

Ma saw that she meant it, and nodded, satisfied. Gaia was a good child… woman, she corrected herself. Even though the girl was too self-possessed and quiet, it was obvious that she loved him, and that Rei doted on her. The way they'd tried to hide it from everyone… ha! Ma shook her head, and gave Gaia a grim look.

"See to it that you don't."

Gaia went back inside, dying for a cold cup of water. The sun constantly shone in Rural China, and she was aching for the misty cold of Hong Kong. Perhaps she should pay Keira a call?

Gaia checked her purse. ACK, no money!!! Oh, dear. She would have to go to Fong's and beg for her job back. Or maybe she could go to the grocer's, work as a till-lady? Gaia decided to check the notice-board in the market for vacancies.

* * *

(Later, in a place not very far away…)

-----------

"And what's in it for you?"

"Reclaiming the honor of the Li clan. Anyone who associates with an exile is our enemy, and must be destroyed."

Lee glared at the woman. "I dunno about destruction… I just want her to be mine. How will you accomplish that without being seen?"

The black-clad woman smiled ghoulishly, and in the half-light of dusk, Lee thought he could see the black snake tattooed on her pale face move a little towards her nose. He shuddered, and decided to keep this pleasant meeting as short as possible.

"She'll fight back. Do you think you can overpower her alone, and without waking up the neighborhood?"

"We have our ways," she said, and disappeared swiftly, seemingly leaping three feet backwards in an instant.

Lee watched her go, and exhaled, glad to see her gone. He mounted his bike, revved the engine, then swung it around, and rode it home.

(Just you wait, Gaia,) he thought, feeling triumphant;

(You'll soon be mine!)

* * *

(Tokyo, Hiwatari Mansion, night-time…)

-----------

Mai had been taken to her room next to Kai's and she had taken a shower, changed, gotten dressed, made supper, sat in the kitchen and waited a little. Then she'd eaten the supper, brushed her teeth, and was now sitting in Kai's room in her PJ's, waiting for him to show up.

Couldn't go to sleep without saying goodnight, you know.

He was very late. It was 11 o'clock, and Mai had even briefly gone to sleep, jumping awake at the chime of a clock somewhere deep in the bowels of the house. The place was pretty lonely, and Mai wondered how anyone could have slept in here at all.

She got up, and went to snoop in his drawers. To her dismay, they were empty. Mai sighed, and gazed around the room. A huge wooden double-bed with a roof, with white blankets, pillows, a white duvet and stuff like that. The cupboards next to the bed were a light color, probably oak or something like that.

Mai lay down across the bed, and breathed in deeply. Not the slightest trace of Kai. Then again, he had been gone for a while… and the servants (servants!) probably washed it all, anyway. She bent down to look beneath the bed, and saw what looked like a crinkled piece of paper.

Mai fished it out, and unfolded it. She gasped. A picture! But… could this be Kai?! There were three people in the picture: a man, a woman and a boy.

The boy was small, barely reaching the man's knee. He had big, crimson eyes, familiar blue/gray hair, and a round, innocent face. The boy was shying away from the woman, who was holding him and giving him a kiss. Maybe he was embarrassed by the photographer, or maybe he was just shy, but he nevertheless had a wide, lop-sided grin on his face, which showed that he enjoyed the attention.

There was a blue stain on the child's white T-shirt, and around his mouth – a Popsicle, maybe? – and he wore a pair of red shorts. The man was holding the boy's hand, his mouth half-open in the middle of a sentence, but Min could tell he was the boy's father. He had dark-brown hair, an expression of fatherly pride, and the same eyes as the child. There was a white scarf tied around his neck, the same one Kai usually wore.

The woman who held the child was kneeling and smiling at the camera, and at the same time kissing her boy. She had the same blue hair, but with green eyes and pale skin, like she spent a lot of time indoors. They all looked very happy and together-y, like a commercial family advertising tooth-paste.

The child was Kai.

Mai stared at the picture. What had happened to his parents? He'd never told her. He'd never said where he got his scarf from, either. Mai had the feeling there were many things he had not told her about. Maybe he couldn't bring himself to confess. Whatever, they were his secrets to tell, and Mai would simply try to be there for him.

The young boy looking up at her from the picture was so different from her Kai! His expression was completely innocent, his eyes full of the childish hope of getting Mommy to buy him another ice-cream… never worrying about what tomorrow might bring.

When was this photo taken? She turned it around, and looked at the back. 1990! Min did some mental calculations.

"He must have been 4!" she whispered. "Whoa."

Suddenly, something crashed through the door, and Mai felt her heart leaping in her chest, and quickly stuffed the picture under the pillows, then climbed off onto the floor.

She peeked around the corner of the bed, expecting to get caught by Kai's grandfather, and saw that, instead, it was Kai! She got up, relieved to see him.

"Where were you all day?" she asked him, but he was turned away. Suddenly, he stepped back, and buried his fist in the wall so hard that Mai jumped in surprise. She stared at him, her eyes wide. "Are you-"

He punched the wall again, and she flinched. What'd happened to him, to get him so mad?! She cautiously moved forward, flinching whenever his hand smashed brutally into the wall. When she got close enough to see his expression, she gasped. Kai looked so angry, his face was red, and there were marks on his throat.

"Kai! Hey, stop it! What are you doing to yourself?!" Mai said, trying to get through to him. But he continued to tear at the wall, punching it in blind rage, leaving blood-red stains on the wallpaper. Mai winced as she caught a glimpse of his bloodied knuckles, and the image of the 4-year old Kai came into her mind. They were so different…!

She couldn't take it anymore.

Mai grabbed his arms, and tried to pull him away without hurting his hands. He jerked free of her grasp, and hit the wall with renewed strength. "Kai! NO!" Mai cried, and, wrapping her arms around his waist, kicked at the wall.

For a second or two they teetered – then Kai fell backwards on top of Mai. They hit the floor with a heavy [thud!]. All the air whooshed out of her body, but it was as if he hadn't noticed. As soon as her grip on him slackened, he turned over onto his knees and tried to scramble away.

Mai was scared by the sudden change in him. But she wasn't about to let him do this to himself. Her hand shot out and grabbed his leg, making him trip and fall. She winced, but quickly went over to him and twisted his arms so that he lay flat on his stomach. He struggled, but Mai definitely had the upper hand. She put her knee on the small of his back to pin him down, trying not to cause him too much discomfort.

"Kai; what's wrong with you? What happened?" she asked, her voice full of concern. He struggled some more, then suddenly flipped over so that Mai was now beneath him. She saw the look in his eyes; pure, stone-cold hatred radiated out of his soul, so that she had to force herself to keep looking at him, and not turn away. "Tell me what's wrong!" she said, too stubborn to let up. "Maybe I can help."

"There are some things you can do something about, Healer," he snarled, speaking for the first time, his voice thick with an emotion Mai did not recognize; "And there are some that you should just leave alone!"

He tried to get up, his head full of conflicting emotions and thoughts, but she wouldn't let him. She tackled him again, and he tried to shake her off, to make her let him go before-

-Suddenly, he flew into a rage, and pinned her down. Kai wasn't thinking when he pulled his arm back, ready to vent all of his anger on her. Mai had ceased to be Mai in his eyes: she was just an irritating obstacle in front of him, an obstacle that had to be removed in order for him to feel better again.

Mai felt a sharp bolt of fear in her chest, together with a sense of shock, and flung her arms up to protect her face. She squeezed her eyes shut, breathing in deeply to fight the panic rising inside her, waiting for the inevitable jolt of pain.

It never came.

Mai slowly looked out from behind her hands, blinking in confusion. Kai was crouched above her, arm raised, a look of pure amazement on his face. She lowered her hands, sad acceptance in her eyes. She breathed in, her chest rising. Then she slowly breathed out, and fought to keep her voice from shaking.

"…You would hit me?" she asked quietly, and her words seemed to break him out of his trance. He lowered his arm and sat back, realizing that he had almost done what he had promised himself to never, ever do: he had almost hurt the one that he loved. Kai tried to find words to express how much he regretted it, but Mai turned away, and something twisted itself in anguish inside him.

"I… I didn't mean…" he faltered, then stopped; what excuse would be good enough? The fact that he let his grandfather beat him around then wind him up so hard that he'd almost… almost HIT her, was enough to drive him up the wall.

Mai turned away, then got up, her heart beating at triple speed. How could he have scared her like that? For one awful minute, Mai had thought that he was really going to hurt her… she tied her hair up into a tight, tight bun to keep herself from falling into pieces, then gave him a cold, disappointed look, and went to her own room.

She looked back at him before she left, feeling pain and anger conflicting in her heart. She wished he would say something to her, anything at all.

(Call me back, fool, say something! Say you're sorry…) Mai glanced at her feet, on the verge of tears: (…Tell me… tell me you love me.)

Kai looked up at her from where he sat, unable to move his mouth, to even apologize. (She would never forgive me,) he thought, all of his hope faded to a bitter sense of guilt and disappointment. Right now, as she stood in the doorway, her green eyes shining with unshed tears, her raven locks framing her pale skin and down-turned lips, tumbling over her shoulders and down her back, Kai felt her beauty tormenting him, felt himself lessen in her eyes and fall in her esteem.

It was so easy to fix: one heartfelt apology and a kiss, and they'd be happy together again. But… it was as if something had sealed his lips shut, and stolen his voice too.

Crimson eyes met green gaze, and for a moment, that special connection sparked between them, this time carrying with it only a feeling of bittersweet longing to be in each other's arms.

Then it snapped, and she turned away with a frosty "Goodnight, Hiwatari." Kai heard the click made by her closing door, and got up, everything inside him aching for Mai. Too bad. She was beyond his reach now.

Kai threw himself on his bed, and grabbed his pillow, crushing his face against it to try and relieve his migraine. Something papery touched his face, and he looked up from his pillow, and picked up the picture that Min had hidden there.

He closed his eyes when he saw it, but it was too late. The sight of his 4-year old self, the forgotten memories of sunny days and long-lost parents welled up inside him, and his heart felt heavier than ever.

He pulled his blanket up to his head, and curled into a ball, clutching the old photograph in his hands and drowning in the dark pit of his sorrow.

He needed her so badly.

* * *

Mai was sitting in her bed, trying to make herself comfortable in the cold sheets. God, why had she gotten so angry? Why had she let herself get scared? Perhaps she was so vulnerable to Kai that he could break her like a twig whenever he wanted. For the first time in a while, she felt uncomfortable with herself, with the way she felt about him.

Did she really want this, if it meant getting herself torn to pieces like that? She loved Kai – didn't he love her anymore?

(Don't be silly,) she scolded herself, (Of course he does! He just has… a few anger management problems, that's all. I think.)

The way he'd towered over her had frightened the living daylights out of her, and she had lost all ability to think. To move. She could only stare at him as he crouched over her, fist raised and a sort of madness in his eyes. Mai didn't want to know what had made him so senselessly angry. It had, no doubt, something to do with his grandfather. She tried to get comfortable in the bed, and twisted and turned hopelessly, her mind chugging away like a machine, too awake to go to sleep.

She sighed, and stared out of the window at the full-moon.

Tonight would be long and restless.

* * *

(Back in Tiger River village, in the twilight hour…)

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Gaia came home after a successful job hunt. She had landed herself a job at the grocer's as the till-man's charming assistant, with a few welcome bonuses. She was allowed to take home a basket of the leftover vegetables everyday, which meant she didn't have to waste her money there. She also got a discount on the meat and so on, which she didn't eat much of anyway, so all she really had to use her money on was milk; water was found naturally in a spring deep in the forest on the northwest edge of the village. Near Mai's old home.

Gaia felt a cold gust of wind blow across her back, sending chills up her spine. She shuddered. It was the twilight hour, where untold things lurked in the darkening shadows of the night. She shouldn't be out here, walking alone in the deserted alleys of the village – she should be at home, perhaps spending some time with Rei before his mom shouted for him and he scurried over the fence as fast as he could.

Gaia remembered the conversation she had with his Ma. The things she'd suggested… Gaia was not so stupid as to do something as risky as that!

Suddenly, the night she'd spent in hospital with Rei blasted back into her mind, like it sometimes did, in all its Technicolor, sweet glory, and Gaia felt her pulse begin to race madly.

(Whoa, steady on, girl!) she thought, wearing a silly smile and feeling a little short of air; (No use in fainting in the middle of the road!)

After catching her breath, Gaia felt a sudden chill of foreboding, and began to walk a lot faster than before, her basket swinging on her arm. Something was not right tonight: she didn't like the way the atmosphere felt. Desperately she tried to think of something lighter, more cheerful, but nothing came to her.

Fear already had a cold, iron-grip on her heart.

She turned the alley, practically running now, thinking only of reaching her home, her white hair flying behind her and a sheen of sweat on her dark forehead. She ran, her shoes pattering on the earth, trying to keep the food inside the basket and failing miserably.

Soon, she saw her house looming up in front of her, and clutched her keys, her breath coming in small gasps. She jammed the key into the lock, glad she hadn't locked up very well, and after three heart-stopping seconds, burst through the door and into the gloomy interior of her house!

She knelt on the floor, trying to catch her breath. Never again would she go home alone at night! No way, no how. She didn't notice the shadow that slipped in behind her, through the open door. Gaia picked her basket up, and grabbed her keys, remembering to close the door behind her. she placed the basket on the hallway table, and put her keys there, too.

"Home, sweet home," she exhaled, relieved to be safe again.

Suddenly, arms caught her around her waist, surprising her.

"OH-!"

A hand clamped her mouth shut, and she struggled against whoever it was, but her captor was stronger. She felt something bumpy pressed against her back, and realized that whoever was holding her was a woman!

"Now, listen to me, my darling…" the woman said in a soothing voice, and at once Gaia's fears were quelled. Something in the woman's low, whispering voice calmed her, made her docile and weak. Tired. She still resisted, though – anyone who meant her good would not ambush her in the dark!

"That's right… calm down… you can trust Nhadala, my sweet…" the woman purred, and Gaia felt something squeezing her heart, though not painfully. She felt herself relax, and her limbs get heavier.

"Nhadala will keep you safe. Do you promise not to scream when I let you go, hmm? I will be very disappointed if you do…"

Gaia really did not want to disappoint this nice lady, so she nodded. "Okay…"

Nhadala smiled. The poor young girl was like putty in her hands! This was almost too easy. Nhadala turned her around so that she could get a nice, long look at her victim. Silvery hair, dark complexion, wide brown eyes and a fine figure… now how to find the vital spot.

Gaia smiled fuzzily at the woman… she was a kind lady. Gaia liked her very much. Suddenly she tipped forward, and the woman caught her in warm, welcoming arms.

Gaia was reminded of her own mother… she recalled the few fragments of memory, the impressions made on a young mind… she recalled a scent of cherries and rose-red lips. Her mother had loved cherry-trees and red lipstick.

Nhadala turned her around again, and undid the first few buttons on her shirt, exposing the swell of Gaia's breasts. She lifted her arm, and the girl in her arms suddenly shifted, realizing something was very wrong… but by then it was too late.

"Your friend Nhadala will send you into a deep sleep…" the woman whispered, and her arm plunged, stabbing a poisoned needle deep into the young girl's flesh.

The poison began working its way down to the heart, slowing its beat, and paralyzing her limbs before Gaia could as much as cry out! An expression of horrified shock gave way to the calm face of a deep dreamer, as Gaia lost her consciousness, perhaps for the last time ever.

Nhadala gazed at the girl lying slumped in her arms, her hair tumbling over her face and shadowing her closed eyes. She wondered if she had perhaps overdone the poison… the worst it could do was either turn her into a comatose vegetable, make her lose her mind, paralyze her, or, well… kill her. Then she shrugged.

"What business of mine is it?" she said in her strange, soft voice that sounded almost gentle; "So long as I have made her suffer?"

* * *

(A little while later…)

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Lee stood, waiting nervously at the crossroads near Mai's old home. It was very dark, and the woods were far too noisy in his opinion. He tapped the handle-bar of his bike, wondering not for the first time, how far he was willing to go just to spite his one-time best friend, Rei.

Suddenly he heard someone rustling in the shadows, and flicked his pocket-knife open, ready for whoever thought they could try to take him on.

But it was just that weird woman Nhadala, and Lee gasped as he saw her carrying Gaia in her arms. (She must be strong,) he thought, then got down to business.

"Here she is," the woman hissed softly, "As promised…"

Lee glared at her suspiciously. "Are you sure there isn't something you want? This hardly seems like something one would do out of generosity of heart, you know."

"Your concern touches me, Lee, but…" she sighed dramatically;

"There is nothing you can give me."

Lee put Gaia in the little buggy-thing that he had attached to the side of his bike, covering all but her face with a warm blanket. He smiled malevolently at her still body. He glanced at the woman, and grudgingly thanked her.

Nhadala smiled coldly, more aware of the danger he was putting himself in by taking Gaia from her than he was. If he was lucky when it all came out, then maybe he would be able to talk his way out of the hangman's rope, and end up with a life-sentence.

Fool.

"Oh, you're very welcome, Lee. You are very, very welcome."

Then she had an uncontrollable urge to laugh in his face – the little idiot really thought he was going to get away with it!

Lee revved his bike, not really wanting to stay any longer, and sped away to the sound of her hysterical, mocking laughter.

* * *

A/N: Inspiration strikes! And this chapter is the result. I can promise you, worse things are lying in wait for our white-haired heroine! Oh, yeah. 


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